COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, July 5 (AFP): The headquarters of the Bangladesh Surf Girls and Boys Club is a weather-beaten white shack but, like the seemingly endless beach on which it sits, its members' ambitions stretch far.
For Mohammad Mannan, 25, and Fatima Akhter, 16, their thoughts are fixed on the upcoming surfing competition at the Asian Games, to be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4.
The surfers from Cox's Bazar -- one of the world's longest beaches that stretches for 120 kilometres (75 miles) along the Bay of Bengal -- are hoping to carve out a place for the sport in a country obsessed with cricket and football.
Mannan has competed internationally in India and the Maldives, but opportunities are scarce.
"Surfers from other countries are different, because they have better boards, bigger waves, and travel frequently to different countries," Mannan said.
His first trip to the Maldives was a shock. Used to Bangladesh's five-foot (1.5 metre) waves, he found himself facing 15-foot breaks. Club founder Rashed Alam has no illusions about the scale of the challenge.
"You can't improve without proper training, and we don't have any sponsors to send our surfers abroad," he said.
For Akhter, reaching the Games in Japan as a young woman has been especially tough. Her father died when she was young and her mother, who works as a cook, has urged her to marry.
Cox's Bazar is among the poorest regions in Bangladesh, where child labour and child marriage remain widespread.
"The biggest problem is poverty. Girls... are expected to contribute to their families' income," she said.
"The friends who taught me to surf were victims of child marriage," Akhter said. "They still miss their days at the beach and always tell me: 'Don't get married. Hold on to surfing'."
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