Bangladesh’s Table Tennis Federation had appointed the 25-year-old Thai coach, Passara Patarathorn, as the national table tennis coach. After a two-month contract, Passara has returned to Thailand. Now, the federation is attempting to replace him with Iranian coach Midia.
The General Secretary of the Table Tennis Federation, Maksud Ahmed Sonet, said, “Midia is the assistant coach of the Iran TTT team. Discussions about financial matters have already taken place. Passara used to be part of our TTT camp. The Iranian coach does not wish to stay here. Once the discussion concludes, the decision will be formalised.”
The role of a national team coach is extremely important in any sport. Decisions regarding the appointment or replacement of a national team coach are typically made through the national team or the executive committee of the federation. Regarding the process for table tennis, the General Secretary explained, “Tonight, we will hold an informal meeting with one of the committees. Afterwards, we will seek approval from the Executive Committee.”
If the Iranian coach ultimately joins, the monthly expenditure would be around 400,000–500,000 Bangladeshi Taka. Realistically, the Table Tennis Federation does not have the capacity to afford this. On this matter, Sonet stated, “A national federation must spend 300,000–400,000 Taka per month on the national team or the coach. Whether through sponsorship or individual effort, we will continue this to develop table tennis.”
The Bangladesh table tennis team is scheduled to depart in a few days to compete in the Islamic Solidarity Games. Although the players trained under the Thai coach, they are now preparing under domestic coach Mostofa Billah. This has raised questions about the usefulness of the Thai coach’s training. On this, the General Secretary explained, “It would certainly have been better if Passara had stayed. We did try to retain him, but he had other commitments. Through Passara, the players improved, particularly in their ability to compete during games.”
Although the General Secretary acknowledged improvements under Thai coaching, the Asian Table Tennis Championship results do not reflect this. In 2023, the men’s team finished 14th, whereas this year they placed 19th. The women’s team dropped from 14th to 20th among 20 countries. So, where is the improvement? In response, the General Secretary said, “Our performance in the South Asian Table Tennis Championship was poor. In the Asian Championship, we defeated Nepal. Over the past two years, the standard and competition level in Asian table tennis have increased. We were unable to work on improving our standard to that level.”
Since taking charge, the current ad hoc committee of the Table Tennis Federation has regularly updated the media on almost all matters. Asian table tennis is an extremely important tournament. However, the federation did not inform the media either before or after the Bangladesh team participated. Not even the results were communicated. Representing the country gives the media and public the right to know the outcomes. On this issue, the federation’s General Secretary expressed regret, saying, “Regardless of the results, we should have informed everyone. We will ensure such mistakes are not repeated in the future.”