Oman to play, not Bangladesh
Bangladesh national hockey team will not be taking part in the Asian Champions Trophy following Bangladesh Hockey Federation's (BHF) denial to host the event, which will now be hosted by Oman from October 18 to 28 this year.
The top six finishers of the Asia Cup were supposed to take part in the fifth edition of the Asian Champions Trophy, and Bangladesh, as sixth-place finishers of the Asia Cup held last October in Dhaka, were expected to be part of this marquee event.
But the recently-formed ad-hoc committee of BHF decided not to host the event during the first meeting of its executive committee earlier this month owing to financial constraints, and Oman, who finished eighth in the Asia Cup, took this opportunity to host the event. Hosting the event also earned them the rights to be part of the tournament at Bangladesh's expense.
The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF), on January 29, officially awarded Oman the hosting rights of the event, which will feature India, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and hosts Oman.
When contacted yesterday, AHF head of marketing and communications Faraz Khan explained why Bangladesh were not included.
“In the event that the host country is not among the countries ranked first to sixth [in Asia Cup] or first to fifth [for women], and wishes to participate, the hosts shall be included instead of the lowest-ranked qualifiers,” Faraz said. “Since the tournament is being hosted in Oman, the host country comes into the participating teams in place of the lowest-ranked team, Bangladesh.”
“As far as we knew, the top six teams of Asia Cup were to take part in the Asian Champions Trophy, but now we see Bangladesh have been excluded from the event,” BHF general secretary Abdus Sadeque said in regards to the issue.
“As the Asia Cup cost us Tk 2.2 crore, we don't have enough money to host another high-profile tournament like the Asian Champions Trophy this year. Besides, we need another Tk 50 lakh to participate in the qualifying tournament for Asian Games, so we refused to host event,” Sadeque explained.
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