We will fight till the end: Harun
Bangladesh will fight till the final whistle regardless of opposition when the eight-nation Asia Cup hockey tournament gets underway at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in the capital from October 11.
That was the statement made by head coach Mahbub Harun during the national hockey team's jersey unveiling programme at the Bangladesh Olympic Association Auditorium yesterday.
Bangladesh have been drawn in Pool A alongside Pakistan, India and Japan and will begin their campaign against Pakistan in one of the opening day's three matches.
"We have to face three Asian giants in the group stage and I told the boys one thing: you must not give up the match before the final whistle. And I believe the boys will offer some great challenges to their mighty opponents on their home ground," said Harun, whose team have played six practice matches against a Gansu province team of China in their two months of preparation.
"We are ready for the tournament. The past 20 days we have mostly worked on the game plan and strategy and tried to motivate the players mentally as we want to improve our position from where we are at the moment," said the former national hockey player.
Captain Rasel Mahmud Jimmy echoed his coach's sentiments and stressed the importance of mental fitness over physical fitness.
"We had earlier played against big teams with the aim of not conceding many goals. But the scenario has changed since we beat China in the Hockey World League in 2013. However, we have still a problem with our mentality because we start the game with a mental weakness. We have to overcome this," said Jimmy, who is all set to play his fifth Asia Cup.
"If we can put up better performances from the first match against Pakistan, I believe the players will be able to overcome this mental weakness," said Jimmy, who believes if they capitalise on the penalty corners then there may be an upset in the group matches.
"In the past month we rectified the mistakes we made on the China tour and tried to convert penalty corners in training. At the same time, we have also worked on defending ourselves as well as hitting on the counter," said Jimmy.
Bangladesh Hockey Federation president and Air chief Marshal Abu Esrar urged the players to keep up team spirit and self-confidence while BHF general secretary Abdus Sadeque expects the boys in red and green to turn into a formidable side on their home turf.
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