Linu to be awarded Swadhinata Padak

Sports Reporter :

Former Table Tennis star Zobera Rahman Linu is set to become the third female athlete to be awarded the Swadhinata Padak.

Legendary athlete Sultana Kamal, who was killed on August 15, 1975, received the posthumous Swadhinata Padak in 2000. Then in 2024, another athlete Firoza Khatun received Swadhinata Padak.

Zobera Rahman Linu is the only Bangladeshi sportswoman to have her name listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Linu was a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in Bangladesh.

Linu started playing when she was 8 years old. In 1974, her father encouraged her and her sister to participate on a Table Tennis Championship. She became runners up with her sister becoming 1st.

The most successful year for her has to be 1977, as she stood championship in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

From 1979 – 2001 (24 years in a row) she became champions in 16 National Table Tennis Championships which is the best ever in any country in the world.

She stood 5th in 1980’s Asian Table Tennis Championship which took place in Japan.