Women progress, men don't
Bangladesh women's kabaddi team all but confirmed their semifinal berth in the 17th Asian Games with an emphatic 30-18 win over hosts South Korea at the Songdo Global University Gymnasium in Incheon yesterday.
But the men's team disappointed once again as they were eliminated from the group stage for the second successive time after suffering a humiliating 24-11 defeat to Pakistan, whom Bangladesh have not beaten since the 2002 Busan Asiad. The men's team will now play their final and academic match against Thailand tomorrow.
Men's coach Abdul Jalil blamed poor refereeing for his side's defeat but the general secretary of Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation Nazrul Islam said the performance of the team was not good enough to beat Pakistan. The team looked dead and buried even before the game and that was reflected by their poor attitude during the game. Instead of concentrating on the game, the players and coach looked more focused on argument with the referees on a few occasions and never threatened their opposition.
The women's team will now wait for the outcome of today's last group match between South Korea and India, who beat Bangladesh 29-18 in the group opener on Sunday, and it is being expected that defending champions India will easily get past the hosts to move into the semifinals along with Bangladesh. If India beat the Koreans, Bangladesh will be assured of retaining the bronze medal they earned in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
The women's team recovered from a poor start to end on a high though they had a worry over the hosts, who prepared themselves in India for a long time with the dream of playing in the semifinals.
The Korean lasses exhibited their physical fitness to collect 12 bonus points out of their total of 18. On the other hand, the Bangladeshi girls clearly lacked fitness and failed to notch up a single bonus point throughout the 40-minute game. At one stage they trailed 4-6 but recovered to end the first half 14-11 with a 'lona', thanks to a few fine raids by Fatema Akter Polly.
After the match, captain Shahnaz Parvin Maleka admitted that they lacked fitness though they had a five-month training.
"We were determined to win the match to ensure the semifinals as well as the bronze medal," said Polly.
After the match, men's cricket team captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza shook hands with the girls to inspire them to go the distance and appealed the Bangladesh Olympic Association to give more attention to those disciplines which have potential to bring medal from such events.
Comments