Bangladesh eyeing silver
Bangladesh men's kabaddi team will leave for India on Monday to take part in the Kabaddi World Cup with a hope of retaining the bronze medal they had won twice.
The third edition of the world cup featuring twelve nations will be held in Ahmedabad from October 7 to 21, and Bangladesh, pitted in Pool A alongside India, South Korea, Australia, Argentina and England, will play their first match against England on October 8.
Pool B features six teams -- last edition's runners-up Iran alongside Thailand, Japan, USA, Kenya and Poland.
Bangladesh team have been struggling at international level for years. They were eliminated from the group stages of the 2014 Asian Games and could only manage a bronze medal in the 2016 South Asian Games despite losing against Sri Lanka in their opening match.
But captain Arduzzaman is dreaming of winning a silver medal in the World Cup, which is being held after a gap of nine years.
“We want to retain the bronze medal, but our target will be to win the silver medal. India are top favourites in our group, so our main opponents in the group are South Korea. If we can beat them, we can expect a silver medal,” said Arduzzaman.
Bangladesh, featuring seven new faces, have prepared for the tournament for the last one-and-a-half months even though they did not play any warm-up matches. They are, however, expected to play a couple of practice matches against Indian domestic teams before the tournament starts.
Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited is sponsoring the national team's campaign.
Comments