In an emergency press conference at BOA house on Thursday, BOA vice-president and chairman of the games steering committee Sheikh Bashir Ahmed (Mamun) made the announcement.
BOA Secretary General Syed Shahed Reza, Deputy Secretaries General Ashikur Rahman Miku and Asaduzzaman Kohinoor, Treasurer Kazi Rajib Uddin Ahmed Chapol were also present on the occasion.
Sheikh Bashir Ahmed said “We have decided to postpone the upcoming Bangladesh Games for the time being, it will be held later, many Mujib Borsho programmes have also been cancelled or suspended due to the virus and Bangladesh Games is one of them.”
“Athletes are in fear due to coronavirus issue, we don’t want to throw the players in a crucial situation”, he said adding that “Our State Minister for Youth and Sports discussed with the Prime Minister recently when PM suggested to consider the safety of players.
“After analyzing the present situation and the guideline of PM, we have taken the decision.”, he stated.
“We know that players are preparing themself for the games, national sports federations have also their own plan and some international commitments. We will give a guideline to the federations to organise the games in a suitable time later”, Ahmed said.
“I am mentioning here again that the games isn’t cancelled, just have postponed” Sheikh Bashir Ahmed further said.
Some 11000 athletes were scheduled to compete in 31 disciplines of sports at 22 venues across the country in the country biggest and most prestigious multi-sports games, which was introduced in 1978.