Rupna Chakma, Ritu Porna Chakma, and Monika Chakma, three football stars of national women's football team who came from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, were accorded a vibrant public reception on Saturday in Rangamati for their contribution to Bangladesh’s Women’s SAFF Championship victory.
The event took place at the Chinghla Mong Mari Stadium, jointly organised by the district administration, Army Region, Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, Hill District Council, and District Police Administration, reports UNB.
Each of the players was presented Tk 3 lakh, and mementos.
The honours were handed over by Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Khan, Brig Gen Shaukat Osman (Commander of the Rangamati Army Region), Kajal Talukdar (Chairman of the Hill District Council), and Dr SM Farhad Hossain (Superintendent of Rangamati Police).
Rangamati Municipality Administrator Nasrin Sultana presented Tk 50,000 and a memento to each player on behalf of the municipality.
Various local social and sports organisations joined in presenting the players with further mementos.
Before the reception, a grand procession was brought out at 10 am from Ghagra High School ground.
The SAFF champions—Ritu Porna, Monika, and Rupna—rode on three decorated trucks, accompanied by their former coaches, school headmasters, FIFA referee and local icon Joya Chakma, and a police band.
The convoy, flanked by over a hundred motorbikes bearing Bangladeshi flags, made its way through the town, passing Bonrupa and concluding at the Chinghla Mong Mari Stadium.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
