The Bangladesh hockey team is preparing for the AHF Cup tournament in Indonesia. It started on February 20 with 57 players. After three rounds, the number of players is now 24. Yesterday, the list of 24 players was finalized and the Eid holiday was given.
Hockey players will report again from April 2 immediately after Eid. They are scheduled to fly to Indonesia on April 15. Six more players will be dropped before then. ‘We will have to leave for Indonesia in a couple of weeks. There will be a final squad of 18,’ said national hockey team head coach Mamunur Rashid.
This camp of the national hockey team was in discussion from the beginning about not calling superstar Russell Mahmud Jimmy. Although there was a lot of discussion and criticism about this in the media and sports arena, the federation did not call Jimmy. However, experienced players like Pushkar Ksisa Mimo, Sarwar, Milan, and Kaushik were in the initial camp.
Two senior players Sarwar and Milon left the camp before the Eid camp break citing personal reasons. ‘They both applied to the federation to leave the camp for personal and family reasons,’ said coach Mamun. Attempts to contact Sarwar on this matter were unsuccessful.
Bangladesh has been the champion in the previous editions of the AHF Cup. This is basically a qualifying tournament for the Asian Cup of Hockey. Although former star player Mamun is a top-level coach in the country, he has been given the responsibility of the head coach of the senior team after a long time. Maintaining the champion streak in the AHF Cup is a challenge for him.
He is optimistic but also a little worried about the lack of warm-up matches, “Other countries including Oman, Kazakhstan are playing warm-up matches and are going to Indonesia early. If we could play a foreign country or team, our real position would be better understood. We have played three matches locally but that is not really right. Even then, I hope we are in a good position in terms of fitness and technology.” Hockey Federation General Secretary Lt. Col. Riazul Hasan (retd) said about the national team’s warm-up matches, “Our team will arrive in Indonesia three-four days early if everything goes well. There will be other teams there at that time, and there is a discussion about playing matches at that time.”
Team of 24 people-
Huzaifa, Rezaul Karim Babu, Mehrab Hossain Samin, Pritam Roy, Mehedi Hasan, Sohanur Rahman Sabuj, Farhad Ahmed Shitul, Ashraful Islam, Amirul Islam, Abed Uddin, Md. Tayyab Ali, Naim Uddin, Al Nahian Shuvo, Roman Sarkar, Fazle Hasan Rabbi, Pushkar Khisa Mimo, Arshad Hossain, Obaidul Hossain Joy, Rocky, Mahbub Hossain, Mainul Islam, Biplob Kujur, Nuruzzaman Nayon, Abu Sayeed Nippon.
