ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.
Sport often seems to be a successful pathway for people from all walks of life, becoming a long, winding journey from rags to riches in wealth and in situ.
But on that pathway, sacrifices are forced to be made if one is determined to become successful even if it means those sacrifices affect the athlete’s free time with friends and family as well as themselves.
This has been the case for Md Sagor Islam, the only Bangladesh representative for archery at Paris 2024 last summer with the 18-year-old also being the second youngest in the Olympic recurve men’s field behind France’s then 17-year-old Baptiste Addis.
“My mother is working hard all the time and is always trying to support me,” said Islam, who was raised by a single mother following his father’s passing when he was just three years old. “Near my home, I have one archery club, so my mother said, ‘Go and try and shoot archery’.”
“I first went when my mother was working. She never said, ‘Come with me, work with me.’ She said, ‘Go to the field and shoot.’”
Raised in poverty in Bangladesh’s western division of Rajshahi, Islam recalls every day when he was growing up being a “struggle” with his late father also leaving behind a tea stall.
From archery beginning as just a simple distraction for him away from his personal hardships, it became a passion, an obsession that turned into a life changing opportunity.
Islam’s confidence on the shooting line grew to the point that he travelled over 200 kilometres from Rajshahi to the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan, the country’s national sports institute that is located in Savar, just west of the capital Dhakar, to successfully complete a trial.
