DHAKA, June 4: The government of Bangladesh suspended on Saturday night what would have been the first-ever women's wrestling competition in Dhaka. The competition was to be held at the city's Dhanmondi Women's Sports Complex on Sunday.
The suspension orders came in the wake of threats from an Islamist group, Jamiatul Ulama Islami, which said it foil the competition "by sacrificing their lives, if necessary."
The government, meanwhile, had beefed up security in and around the sports complex to ward off any untoward incident. Plainclothesmen were deployed on Saturday evening.
But at about 11pm on Saturday, State Minister for Youth and Sports, Fazlur Rahman asked the officials of the Bangladesh Wrestling Federation over telephone to suspend the competition.
The state minister confirmed on Sunday that he had ordered the postponement but dismissed the claim that he had bowed to pressure from the Islamist group. "I was not aware of any campaign by any Islamist group," he told the press.
"Some district officials told me that they could not send teams to the competition as they were not informed in time." The minister also claimed to have found out that the organizers were not fully prepared. "So, I asked them to suspend the competition and hold it after they are through with the preparations."
