Nat'l camp begins at BKSP

National football coach Shafiqul Islam Manik (2nd R) briefs the members of his preliminary squad at the BFF Bhaban yesterday morning. The team started training at the BKSP in Savar later yesterday.Photo: STAR

Shafiqul Islam Manik began his preparation for the Merdeka Cup yesterday with 26 footballers at BKSP.
The new national football coach, who had called 30 players in his preliminary squad for the October 15-25 international tournament in Malaysia, had to start without Muktijoddha fullback Feroz Mahmud Titu and Sheikh Russel striker Alfaz Ahmed who stayed back in Dhaka for their third round matches of the B. League and Abahani midfielders Mehdi Hassan Ujjal and Arif Khan Joy, both opting out due to personal reasons and injury respectively.
"I relieved the Brothers Union players after light warm-up as they played a match yesterday. Then I went for a match with the rest for about 45 minutes in the afternoon," Manik told The Daily Star over phone from the Savar sport institute.
"I'll stress on playing match here, provided the ground is okay but those who looked a bit unfit, will have to go through special sessions. We are planning a few day's hard training but I don't want to wear out the footballers," he added.
Manik has former national goalkeeper Atiq as the goalkeeping coach in the camp, which will run till October 4.
"We have decided to train even on the Eid day," informed the former international fullback who had convinced his charges to sacrifice the Eidul Fitr holidays.
The players had reported to the coach at the BFF yesterday morning before making the trip to BKSP. The 20-member final squad is expected to be named by October 10.