Bangladesh's hopes of qualifying slim
Bangladesh have been pitted against tough opponents in the World Hockey League Round-2 along with India, China, Ireland, Azerbaijan and Fiji as the matches of this group will get underway on February 18 in Indian capital of New Delhi.
Thirteen teams have qualified for this round who will be joined by eight teams -- standing from ninth to 16th in world rankings -- and three hosts nations in the 24-team Round-2.
These teams, split into four groups, will play a round-robin tournament and later the top two teams from each group will advance to the semfinal round where the top eight teams in the world rankings will also join the field.
In Bangladesh's group, India are considered favourites to become champions while either China or Ireland are seen as the side to finish second. Nevertheless, Bangladesh are holding the fourth position on paper in the group, considering their strength against two other opponents -- Fiji and Azerbaijan.
Though the Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) officials had earlier thought that Bangladesh would have a good chance to qualify for the semifinal round from the group, but they now almost gave up their hopes after seeing the inclusion of China and Ireland in the same group.
"Initially we had been informed by the IHF officials that our group would comprise India, Bangladesh, Fiji and one team from the Middle East, but we recently came to know that China and Ireland would also be part of our group," said BHF general secretary Rahmatullah adding that Bangladesh's chances of advancing to the semifinal round faded due to the inclusion of China and Ireland, who are much better sides than Bangladesh.
Comments