United News of Bangladesh

Historic Feats on the World Stage When Mohammad Ruman Shana stepped onto the global archery stage, few expected a Bangladeshi to challenge the sport’s giants. But in 2019, he proved everyone wrong by clinching a bronze medal at the World Archery Championships, Bangladesh’s first-ever podium finish at the event. In that Cinderella run at Den Bosch, Netherlands, Shana toppled powerhouses like former world champions Kim Woojin and Mauro Nespoli to earn his place on the podium. The achievement not only made history but also secured Bangladesh its first direct Olympic archery berth for the Tokyo Games. Riding that momentum, Shana captured gold at the Asia Cup in the Philippines later the same year, proving his world medal was no fluke. In 2021, he added another feather to his cap by partnering with rising archer Diya Siddique to claim silver in the mixed team event at the Archery World Cup, Bangladesh’s best-ever finish at the competition. That year, World Archery named him the 2019 Breakthrough Athlete of the Year, recognising both his bronze and the path it cleared for Olympic qualification. At his peak, the boy from Khulna reached a world ranking of No. 10, firmly placing him among archery’s global elite. Read more: Bazball Brilliance: Ben Duckett’s Rise Reshaping England’s Game Champion on Home Soil Shana was instrumental in Bangladesh’s clean sweep of all ten archery gold medals at the 2019 South Asian Games—an unprecedented regional triumph that put the nation firmly on the archery map. In 2023, he reclaimed the national crown by winning the Bangladesh National Archery Championship, sealing the men’s recurve title with a dominant 6–0 win in the final. (He and Diya took silver in the mixed-team event.) That title, his first in five years, reaffirmed Shana’s lasting dominance. He continues to represent Bangladesh Ansar, a leading domestic sports institution that regularly tops national medal tallies. Rising from a Disorganized System Archery in Bangladesh is still finding its footing, and when Shana picked up a bow in 2010, the sport lacked both structure and funding. His early training involved bamboo bows, built in a grassroots programme for youth. A turning point came in 2018 with the appointment of German coach Martin Frederick, funded by the “Teer Go for Gold” initiative. Frederick brought structure, international exposure, and professional training. The impact was immediate: Bangladesh’s archers won 15 gold, 18 silver, and 10 bronze medals on the international stage in 2018–2019. Read more: Najmul steps down as Bangladesh Test captain after Colombo defeat But even as Shana’s star rose, cracks remained. Despite being the country’s top archer, he received a monthly allowance of just ৳3,000 (around $35)—a sum he said was “barely enough to live on.” When Shana voiced his frustration, officials responded defensively. The federation’s secretary went so far as to claim Shana had “mental issues” and needed a psychiatrist, rather than addressing the real concerns he raised. Challenges and a Crossroads By 2023, after COVID-related disruptions and internal disputes, Shana’s form began to dip. He was briefly benched and banned for alleged disciplinary issues. Feeling pressured by restrictive federation rules and disrespected despite years of service, Shana made the shock decision to retire from the national team at just 28. In a heartfelt letter, he questioned what he had earned after 14 years of dedication—feeling that even historic achievements hadn’t secured him recognition or meaningful reward. In early 2025, the story took another turn. Ruman Shana, Bangladesh’s Olympic flag-bearer in archery, left the country with his wife, Diya Siddique, in search of better prospects in the United States. “We left… hoping for a better future,” Shana said. Read more: Who could handle the burden of Bangladesh's Test captaincy? If things don’t change, his story risks becoming a one-off—a symbol not of progress, but of missed opportunity. The Way Forward: Hitting the Bullseye Despite the setbacks, Ruman Shana’s story is far from finished—and it holds valuable lessons for Bangladesh. He has expressed openness to returning, but only if real changes are made. His message is clear: talent alone isn’t enough—support systems matter. First, athletes need secure livelihoods. Competitive stipends or sponsorships are essential for full-time training. Second, the country must retain top-tier coaching and upgrade training facilities. The Martin Frederick era showed what’s possible—replicating that success demands sustained investment. Lastly, there must be a culture of recognition. Athletes need more than applause. National awards, job placements, and long-term financial backing show that the country truly values its heroes. While the private sector, like City Group’s “Teer” brand, stepped up to support Shana, the public sector must now play its part with equal commitment. Read more: Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers: Bangladesh to start campaign against Bahrain on Sunday For an archer to aim for Olympic gold, they mustn’t fear what happens after the final arrow is released. A Legacy to Build On Ruman Shana’s journey in archery, from a small village in Khulna to the world championship podium, is proof of what Bangladeshi talent can achieve when determination meets opportunity. His story is a rallying cry: with the right support, more Rumans can rise. The nation owes him not just thanks, but change.

The National Sports Council (NSC) will hand over its newly introduced "Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council Award" Thursday. The ICC Under-19 World Cup Cricket champions Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali has been picked for the annual sports awards in the emerging sportsman category, famed archer Ruman Shana in sportsman category, and Mohammad Quamruzzaman in journalist category. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will grace the award distribution ceremony at Sheikh Kamal Auditorium of NSC Tower Thursday at 11am as the chief guest and will hand over the awards to 10 sportsmen, journalists, organisers and two organisations through a virtual platform. Each award comes with Tk1 lakh, a crest and a certificate. State Minister for Youth and Sports M Zahid Ahsan Russell disclosed this at a press conference arranged on the occasion of the 72nd birthday celebration of Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Kamal NSC awards distribution programme at the NSC conference room today. Read: NSC to introduce Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council Award this year Recipients of Sheikh Kamal award Lifetime achievement: Kazi M Salahuddin Sportsmen: Ruman Shana (archery), Mahfuza Khatun Shila (swimming) and Mabia Akhter Simanta (weightlifting) Emerging sportsman: Akbar Ali (cricket), Fahad Rahman (chess), and Unnoti Khatun (football) Organisers: Monjur Kader (Sheikh Jamal DC) and Kyaw Shwe Hla (karate) Journalist: Mohammad Quamruzzaman Organisation: Bangladesh Cricket Board Patron: Walton.

Bangladeshi promising teen-age archer Diya Siddique was eliminated from the women's recurve singles after making a brilliant fight in shoot-off stage of Tokyo Olympics '2020 Archery at the Yumenoshima Park Archery field in the Japanese capital Thursday morning. Seventeen years old talented archer from Nilphamari District Diya lost to her much superior opponent  Karyna Dziominskaya of Belarus by 5-6 set points  in a nerve shattering ups and downs elimination round match of the women 's recurve singles amid huge appreciations from games lovers. She made a good start beating her superior rival by 23-22 points in the first set, suffered 25-26 points defeat in the 2nd set, played 25-25 in the 3rd set, conceded 25-27 defeat in the 4th set and earned a 27-25 victory in the 5th set to tie the match 5-5 set points. Read: ‘OK not to be OK’: Mental health takes top role at Olympics Later, in the match fate-deciding shoot off, Diya, miserably was eliminated from the event in the very first attempt scoring 9 points against her opponent's score of 10 points. After the day's match, three Bangladesh athletes out of six --archer Ruman Shana, shooter Abdullah Hel Baki and Diya Siddique -- completed their Olympics assignments. Three Bangladesh athletes-- swimmers Ariful Islam and Junaiyna Ahmed and athlete Jahir Raihan now  in Tokyo  as their events are yet to start.  Two Bangladeshi swimmers will compete in the heats of their respective 50- meter freestyle on Friday (July 30) while the lone athlete will contest in heat of the 400-meter run on Sunday (August 1). Earlier, Bangladesh famed shooter Abdullah Hel Baki was eliminated from the qualification round of his favourite Men's 10- meter Air Rifles of the Tokyo Olympics Shooting at the Asaka Shooting Range in the Japanese capital last Sunday. He finished 41st among the 47 competitors of the event making a worse total score of 619.8.  Read:Olympics Archery: Ruman Shana eliminated from recurve singles Country's celebrated archer M Ruman Shana was eliminated from round of 32 of the men's recurve singles losing to his Canadian rival Duenas Chispin by 4-6 set points in a keenly contested match  last Tuesday. Ruman Shana smartly advanced to the round-32 of the event eliminating Tom Hall of Great Britain by 7-3 set points in the elimination round Tuesday morning. In last Saturday, Bangladeshi archer Ruman Shana pairing with woman archer Diya Siddique lost to event's gold medalist South Korean pair An San and Kim Je Deok in the round-16 of the mixed team event (mixed doubles) of Olympics. Bangladeshi pair suffered 30-38 defeat in the first set, conceded 33-35 defeat in the 2nd set and eliminated from the event conceding a narrow 38-39 defeat in the 3rd and final set to Korean pair. Earlier on last  Friday, the two Bangladeshi archers made a total score of 1297 to finish 16th and qualifed for the round of 16 of the mixed team event as the last team. Read:Olympics Shooting: Baki eliminated from 10-meter Air Rifles Ruman Shana finished 17th among 64 competitors in the ranking round of recurve individual scoring 662 while Diya Siddique finished 36th among 64 participants in the ranking round making her career best score of 635. Archer Ruman Shana directly qualified to compete in the Tokyo Olympics after winning the bronze medal in the recurve men 's singles of the Archery World Championship held in June, 2019 while Diya Siddique earned opportunity to complete in the Olympics after getting a wild card. The Bangladeshi pair Ruman Shana and Diya Siddique earlier played in the mixed team event final of the Archery World Cup Stage 2 held in Lausanne, Switzerland last May.

Bangladeshi celebrated archer M Ruman Shana was eliminated from his favourite men's recurve singles on the 5th day of Tokyo Olympics Archery at Yumenoshima Park Archery field in the Japanese capital Tuesday noon. He lost to his Canadian rival Duenas Chispin by 4-6 set points in a keenly contested round-32 match. Read:Olympics Shooting: Baki eliminated from 10-meter Air Rifles Ruman Shana made a good start beating his rival 26-25 in the first set, suffered 25-28 defeat in the 2nd set, conceded 27-29 defeat in the 3rd set, earned a 27-26 victory in the 4th set and eliminated from the event conceding a narrow 25-26 defeat in the 5th and match deciding set to his Canadian rival. Earlier in the morning, Ruman Shana smartly advanced to the round-32 of the event eliminating Tom Hall of Great Britain by 7-3 set points in the elimination round. He played 28-28 in the first set, earned 27-25 victory in the 2nd set, managed 26-25 victory in the 3rd set, conceded 25-27 defeat in the 4th set and qualified for the round-32 by winning the 5th and final set by 29-27. In remaining Bangladesh archery event, archer Diya Siddique will play Dziominskaya Karyna of Belarus in the elimination round of the women 's recurve singles on Thursday (July 29). Read:Olympics Archery: Bangladesh eliminated from mixed team event In last Saturday, Bangladeshi archer Ruman Shana pairing with woman archer Diya Siddique lost to event's gold medalist South Korean pair An San and Kim Je Deok in the round-16 of the mixed team event (mixed doubles) of Olympics. Bangladeshi pair suffered 30-38 defeat in the first set, conceded 33-35 defeat in the 2nd set and eliminated from the event conceding a narrow 38-39 defeat in the 3rd and final set to Korean pair. Earlier on last  Friday, the two Bangladeshi archers made a total score of 1297 to finish 16th and qualifed for the round of 16 of the mixed team event as the last team. Ruman Shana finished 17th among 64 competitors in the ranking round of recurve individual scoring 662 while Diya Siddique finished 36th among 64 participants in the ranking round making her career best score of 635. Read:Tokyo Olympics 2020: Meet the Bangladesh Athletes The Bangladeshi pair Ruman Shana and Diya Siddique earlier played in the mixed team event final of the Archery World Cup Stage 2 held in Lausanne, Switzerland last May. Archer Ruman Shana directly qualified to compete in the Tokyo Olympics after winning the bronze medal in the recurve men 's singles of the Archery World Championship held in June, 2019 while Diya Siddique earned opportunity to complete in the Olympics after getting a wild card.

Bangladesh Recurve Men's and Women's teams were eliminated from the Archery World Cup' 2021 Stage-2 from pre-quarter final stage in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Friday. Bangladesh Recurve Men's team, consisting of Ruman Shana, Ram Krishna Saha and Tamimul Islam, conceded 4-5 set points defeat against Spain in the elimination round of 8. Recurve Women's team, comprising Diya Siddique, Beauty Rai and Mehnaj Akhter Monira, suffered 2-6 set points defeat against France, also in the elimination round of 8. Also read: World Archery: Ruman Shana, Diya Siddiqui reach mixed doubles final Earlier on Thursday, Ruman Shana pairing with Diya Siddique made a landmark in the country archery by reaching the final of the Recurve Mixed Doubles of the World meet. The Bangladeshi mixed pair smartly booked a seat for the final eliminating their Canadian rivals by 5-3 set points in the semifinal. They will play mixed doubles final against the Netherlands on Sunday (May 23) at 3:29pm (Bangladesh time). Also read: World Archery: Ruman Shana eliminated from recurve singles Earlier, they eliminated Iran by 5-3 set points in round-12, beat Germany by 5-1 set points in round-8 and eliminated Spain by 5-4 set points in the quarterfinal to reach the semifinal. Ruman Shana was eliminated from his favourite Recurve Men's Singles in round-16 while Diya Siddique was eliminated from Recurve Women's Singles in round-24 on Wednesday.

Bangladesh's celebrated archer Mohammad Ruman Shana's journey in the Archery World Cup stage-two ended Wednesday with his loss to the USA's Brady Ellison in round-16 of the men's recurve individual event in Switzerland's Lausanne. Shana lost to Ellison by 2-6 set points after eliminating Estonia's Mart Oonna by 6-0 set points in round-24. Also, Bangladeshi female archers Diya Siddiqui and Beauty Roy were eliminated from recurve women's singles in round-24. In the compound men's singles event, archer Asim Kumar Das lost to Iran's Kowsar Seyed Hesameddin by 134-136 points. On Tuesday, Bangladesh recurve men's team – comprising of Ruman Shana, Ram Krishna Saha and Tamimul Islam – advanced to round-8 where they will play against Spain.

Bangladeshi archer Ruman Shana finished with the consolation of a bronze medal in the men's recurve singles event of the Bangabandhu 12th Teer National Archery Championship on Wednesday.

Bangladesh’s celebrated archer Ruman Shana has been promoted to the post of Lance Naik of Bangladesh Ansar & VDP.

Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA) nominated cricket all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, archer Ruman Shana and national football team captain Jamal Bhuiyan for the KOOL-BSPA Best Player of the Year- 2019 award.

The governing body of World Archery Federation has shortlisted Bangladeshi celebrated archer Ruman Shana for the World Athlete of the Year award for 2019.