The Bangladesh Athletics Federation on Wednesday handed a six-month ban to gold medal winner in the 400-metre sprint at the last National Athletics Championships, Jahir Rayhan, from domestic and international competitions for providing misleading information to the media following his dismal exit from the men鈥檚 400-metre event of the World Athletics Indoor Championships 2025 in Nanjing, China, on March 21.
In China, the 10-time national champion, Jahir, clocked 49.84 seconds to finish bottom sixth in heat three of the men鈥檚 400-metre event.
Later, he informed a national Bangla daily that 鈥榤aking an exit will be our fate because there was no adequate training arrangement for us prior to the competition. We had to spend money out of our own pocket. One cannot conceive of winning a medal in this manner.鈥� 听
The BAF in its statement clarified that Jahir had been part of the national training camp before travelling to China and had also trained with his services team Navy ahead of the National Athletics Championships in February.听
The BAF further reported that Jahir did not return to the national camp following his Eid-ul-Fitr break. Instead, he reported to the federation by letter that he had joined training at the BKSP.听
Jahir also requested the federation to manage food and residential facilities for him at the BKSP, citing inadequate facilities at the national camp.听
He did not inform the federation about his coach at the BKSP, and neither his services organisation, Navy, nor the BKSP did.
The country's athletics governing body also issued a show-cause notice to Jahir on April 8, asking him to respond within three days of receiving the letter, but the federation did not get any reply until Wednesday. 听
This was for the second time, Jahir, facing a six-month ban as he was on suspension from December 9, 2021, to September 8, 2022, on disciplinary ground.听
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