Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to distribute awards of ‘Sheikh Kamal NSC Award 2023’ to sports personalities and the organizers on Sheikh Kamal’s 74th birth anniversary tomorrow (Saturday).
The award ceremony will take place at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium at 9.30 am.
Zahid Ahsan Russel, State Minister for Youth and Sports announced the names of the awardees of the ‘Sheikh Kamal NSC Award 2023’ at a press conference at the NSC conference room on Thursday.
Shaheed captain Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son of the Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the younger brother of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was the pioneer sports organizer of the country.
Kamal introduced the modern sports in the country when he was the founder of Abahani Krira Chakra (now Abahani Limited).
Kamal himself was a sports personality. He had reputation as an athlete of Dhaka University, played cricket and football also.
Kamal had also huge contribution to the country’s cultural arena as he was one of the pioneer cultural organizers and the founder of different cultural organizations and was an artist and played different roles in the stage shows.
Meanwhile, the youth and sports ministry introduced the Sheikh Kamal NSC Award for the first time in 2021 on the occasion of Sheikh Kamal's 72nd birth anniversary while the ministry officially had started celebrating the birth anniversary of Shaheed Sheikh Kamal in 2020.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports named 10 sports personalities and two organizations for the prestigious Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council (NSC) Award-2023 for their outstanding contribution to sports in eight categories.
The 10 sports personalities, who were selected for the ‘Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council (NSC) Award-2023’ are - Abdus Sadek, the legendary hockey player and the first captain of Bangladesh national hockey team, is nominated as the lifetime achievement award.
In the sportsman category, women's football team captain Sabina Khatun, cricketer Taskin Ahmed and weightlifter Ziaur Islam, gold medal winner in the South Asian competition, will get the awards.
Table Tennis player Muhtasin Ahmed Hridoy and hockey player Amirul Islam will receive emerging athlete award while grassroots hockey organizer Ustad Fazlu and Kalsindur Govt. School and College's principal Mala Rani Sarker will get the awards as sports organizer.
Veteran photo journalist, Muktijoddhah Khandakar Tarek Nurullah has been nominated for the sports journalist award.
Bangladesh Archery Federation will receive the award in sports federation category while Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) will get the sports sponsor award.
The ministry, for the first time, included sports commentator category in the Sheikh Kamal NSC award when cricket commentator and former national cricketer Atahar Ali Khan will receive the award in the sports commentator award.
Each of the awardees will receive Taka one lakh, a crest and a certificate when a concerned committee selected the names for this award considering their outstanding contribution in sports after being keenly scrutinized.
Youth and Sports Secretary D Mohiuddin Ahmed, its Additional Secretary (Sports) Nazrul Islam, NSC's Secretary Parimal Singha and officials of sports ministry and NSC were also present at the press conference.
