Afghans fight for success
Some 10 Afghan students, studying in different universities in Dhaka, made the Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium their own as they cheered on the Afghanistan volleyball team during their Asian Senior Men's Volleyball Championship match against Turkmenistan yesterday.
The Afghans didn't have the last laugh though as they suffered a 2-3 sets defeat to the Turks. However, Afghanistan coach Sadeq Mohammad Yousuf was happy with the way his team fought till the end, especially considering the limited facilities they have back home.
"It is tough for us to prepare back in Afghanistan amid an uncomfortable situation. When the players come to practice from their homes, they have to often come through gun shots," rued the Afghanistan coach.
A suicide bomber killed 45 people during a volleyball match in Yahyakhail district in eastern Afghanistan just last November.
Yousuf informed that they don't have any volleyball league in place. Expressing his regret, the Afghanistan coach said they don't have systematic facilities like Bangladesh despite the popularity of the game among all groups of people. According to the coach, Afghanistan played six tournaments in Iran, China, UAE, Kazakhstan and Philippines in last four years.
Despite losing against Turkmenistan, Yousuf is hopeful his side can reach the semifinals by virtue of better points scored during their two matches of the group phase.
Yousuf also believes Bangladesh team have good prospect of become the best team in South Asia as there are good players here.
The hosts, though, suffered their first defeat in their second match against Kyrgyzstan in straight 0-3 sets (19-25, 27-29, 18-25) yesterday. Now the hosts need to beat Nepal in today's match to have any chance of qualifying for the last four.
"Losing the second set was the turning point. If we could have won the second set, the scenario could have been different. Besides, we lacked combination in today's match," said captain Saeed Al Jabir.
Bangladesh coach Emdadul Haque believes his charges came back in the second set but their poor blocking gave away points to the opponents.
"We don't have any alternative but to beat Nepal tomorrow (Tuesday) and we are confident about doing that," said Emdadul.
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