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My childhood was spent in trauma following the premature death of my mother in March 1971 while residing in Islamabad, Pakistan. We returned to Bangladesh in April 1973 after escaping from Pakistan via Afghaistan and India. And within five months of our return, I got acquainted with the table tennis arena of the country when I participated in Boys’ Singles event at the Second Bangladesh Open Table Tennis Tournament organised by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). I was then a student of class nine at Dhaka Residential Model School, and I played with a wooden bat as I did not possess any rubber version. Besides, I was barefooted and wore a trouser when playing. Despite these handicaps, I could reach the boys’ singles final and went down fighting against Enamul Haque Dulal of Dhaka Collegiate School, who was one year senior to me. The women’s singles event was won by another school-goer named Munira Rahman Helen, who was the elder sister of the country’s table tennis legend and Guinness World Record holder Zobera Rahman Linu.
I did not have the opportunity to meet or talk to Linu on that occasion. However, in December the following year, a 9-year-old Linu created sensation by reaching the final in women’s singles event at the First National Table Tennis Championship, ultimately losing to Helen. However, she amazed everyone when she earned a double crown by winning the women’s doubles (partnering with Helen) and mixed doubles (partnering with Syed Mahbub Ali) titles. On the other hand, I again emerged runner-up in the boys’ singles event and champion in boys’ doubles. That was virtually the end of my TT career, although I could win yet another boys’ doubles crown in the next competition alongside tenth position in the men’s singles event. The main reason for that premature end was tuberculosis in my body and trauma-induced depression in mind. Interestingly, I never had any occasion to talk to Linu or Helen during the decades of Seventies and Eighties, my tendency to shun society might have been a contributing factor for that.
Many years elapsed after that. I entered the civil service in 1986 after completing my education, and was then elected a vice-president of Bangladesh Table Tennis Players’ Association in 1987. We waged a movement for reconstitution of Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation (BTTF) in 1991 following the fall of autocrat Ershad, and the then president Ishtiaq Ahmed Karen was inducted as the treasurer of BTTF as a consequence. It was during the early 1990s that I met Linu a few times at the Shahbag Aziz Market, as she was then living at the nearby PDB Colony of Poribag. She used to come forward to talk to me, and even expressed happiness at my career progression. I was a bit surprised by her remarks, as we were fully out of touch with each other. May be, she heard something about me from someone else.
The clock then moved forward by another eight or nine years. It was January 2001. One night, I saw a strange dream at my rented apartment of Siddheswari Lane, which later wielded considerable influence on me. The dream was like this: I was sitting inside a huge stadium bereft of spectators. There was interplay of light and darkness in the whole stadium, but there were no players or audiences in the twilight of dusk. I was sitting silently in the gallery, in a depressed and miserable mood, probably musing overmy failures in the sporting arena. But suddenly, I sensed that somebody had arrived and sat beside me, and then put his or her hand around my shoulder. I felt reassured by this touch, but on looking sideways I was startled to see Linu sitting beside me. My sleep was broken at that very juncture, but its reminiscence lingered on in my mind.
I started making queries about Linu the very next day. I was then working as the editor of Bangladesh Quarterly at the Department of Films and Publications. I gathered that Linu had won the National Sports Award for 1999 in the previous year. I rang her up after collecting her telephone number. She told me that when she wanted to retire a few years ago, the former treasurer cum general secretary of BTTF and later general secretary of Tennis Federation Ishtiaq Ahmed Karen requested her to continue playing, as there was a possibility of her setting a world record. After this conversation, I called Karen bhai, but he could not say anything specific about the probable record. However, Linu told me that she would give up playing after participating in the forthcoming national championship to be held that year in Rangpur.
Linu communicated with me again two months later. By then, the national table tennis championship was held in Rangpur and Linu had won the women’s singles title for the 16th time in her career. She requested me to make enquiry about a probable Guinness World Record, as she was giving up sports. I then collected her bio-data, so that follow-up steps could be taken on behalf of her.
My next move was to visit the website of Guinness World Records. I found a section in the site where initial claims could be made for records. I made a claim on behalf of Linu as the editor of the official publication Bangladesh Quarterly that Linu had set two world records: first, by winning the national women’s singles title 16 times in her career; and second, by winning 50 national titles in total in women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles events. At that time, the Guinness World Records authorities used to evaluate the claims through their research team without taking any processing fee. And if they found those to be promising, they asked the claimants to send details along with supporting documents.
I was quite surprised when in early-May the Guinness authorities informed me that they were interested about those records and asked me to send details along with authenticated supporting documents via airmail. I immediately started working on the matter and prepared the documents in English. I then asked Linu to come to the BTTF office. Rafiqul Islam Tipu bhai was then the general secretary of BTTF. He came forward with open arms and signed all the prepared documents related to Linu’s sporting career on his official pad. As an additional proof, I wrote a cover-story in the June 2001 issue of Bangladesh Quarterly, whose title was: “Zobera Rahman: A Table Tennis Queen Fit to be in the Guinness”. It was in fact the most important proof or evidence because of the official nature of the publication.
I was scheduled to fly to the Ulster University of Northern Ireland in mid-June for attending a post-graduate course. Therefore, just two days before my departure for Ireland, I went to the Dhaka GPO to send Linu’s application and documents to Guinness authorities via airmail. But ill-luck was my constant companion. When I reached the designated counter of GPO after waiting in queue for almost one hour, I found that my moneybag containing Taka 4,500 was missing from the pocket, although the envelope was in my hand. Becoming panicky, I rushed to the then postmaster of GPO and a previous acquaintance (father’s student) Shah Mohammad Ali alias Dulal bhai. But he could not help me as there was no CCTV at that time. I then went to the Motijheel police station for filing a GD. But nothing came out of that as well. I therefore returned home very sad and dejected.
As I did not have the courage to go back to the GPO again, I carried Linu’s envelope with me in my hand-bag during my long journey to Northern Ireland. We reached the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster on 14 June. And the very next day, I mailed Linu’s envelope from a post office beside our campus.
I returned home three months later in September 2001 after completing the three-month-long academic course. After that, on being requested by Linu, I sent an email to the Guinness authorities for making query about her application. They informed me that the matter was under process. Then they informed me in December 2001 that Linu’s record of ‘16 national table tennis titles’ has been included in their database and they would send the certificate to Linu after completing all formalities. I also received an electronic copy of the record that I immediately forwarded to Linu. She could then claim that she was already the possessor of a Guinness World Record on the basis of that e-copy. I sent another email to the Guinness authorities in March 2002 reminding them about the certificate. They then informed me that although the record could not be included in the book version of their database, they would soon send the certificate to Linu.
Finally, the certificate issued by the Guinness World Records authorities reached Linu towards the end of June. And the first news item on the subject written by me was published in the front-page of the Dhaka-based daily The Independent on July 7, 2002. It was a matter of pride for the country as well, because Linu was probably the first citizen of Bangladesh to have received recognition from the Guinness authorities. On hindsight, I feel that the latter was somewhat lenient about our application, because they wanted to expand their market here, and any record set from Bangladesh could serve as a publicity or marketing tool for them. I also feel that Linu could have successfully claimed two other world records: youngest player to win any national title in any event of table tennis (women’s and mixed doubles titles in December 1974, when she was 9 years 5 months old; and youngest ever national women’s singles champion in 1977, when she was 12 years old).
However, if someone asks me today to pinpoint the most impactful episode in the sequences of events that led to the conferment of a Guinness World Record, I will mention that dream of January 2001, which motivated me to make sustained effort to do something for Linu. And that effort ultimately led to Linu receiving that certificate from the Guinness World Records authorities.
Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed is a former editor of Bangladesh Quarterly.