The four female athletes who accompanied Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus during his visit in Qatar returned home today and expressed gratitude for the unique honour they received and shared their amazement at the state-of-the-art sports facility in the gulf nation.

The Chief Adviser recently made a four-day visit to Qatar to attend The Earthna Summit 2025 with a group of delegates. Four female athletes – footballers Afeida Khandokar and Shaheda Akter Ripa and cricketers Sumaiya Akter and Sharmin Sultana – were invited by the Qatar Foundation and accompanied him in the visit.

"We are very happy to be have been a part of the Chief Adviser's team and it has been a big achievement for all four of us from the sports arena because we represented the entire Bangladeshi sporting fraternity in Qatar," said Bangladesh women's football team captain Afeida at the official press conference at the Foreign Service Academy in Baily Road today.

This was the first time Bangladeshi athletes accompanied the head-of-the-state in an official visit to another country.

"It was the first time that we travelled with the head of the government in Qatar as his companions and we are happy to be a part of it," cricketer Sharmin said. "We had a unique experience there as we met with CEO of Qatar Foundation Sheikha Hind [bint Hamad Al Thani] and spoke about different things with her and visited some places like Education Stadium, Lusail Stadium, Aspiration Academy and indoor facilities which are very different to Bangladesh."

The four players also visited a Paris Saint Germain (PSG) academy in Qatar where two footballers played some 10 minutes with the academy players and visited Al Thumana Stadium which hosted the World Cup quarterfinal match between Portugal and Morrocco.

Footballer Ripa said that they had a detailed discussion on what types of facilities they need with the chief of Qatar Foundation who also promised them to provide as much as possible.

"We hardly have any facilities for injury-recovery in Bangladesh but Qatar has world class facilities where players like Naymar, [Cristiano] Rolando came for treatment. She [Sheikha Hind] told us that she would try to provide such facilities."

Terming the visit of four female athletes with the Chief Adviser as a new start, deputy press secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said, "Though Qatar hasn't specifically promised anything but they told us that they would build a dormitory and a gymnasium for female athletes and provide injury rehabilitation facility."