Bangladesh will have a busy calendar at home next year as they will be hosting three international tournaments -- the Asian Games Qualifiers, World Hockey League (Round-1) and the AHF U-21 tournament.
"We are going to host three international tournaments on home soil from March to December in 2014. The Asian Games Qualifiers will get underway on March 15 while the World Hockey League will be held in September though it is yet to be approved by International Hockey Federation (IHF). Then, we will host the AHF U-21 tournament in November-December," said Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) general secretary Rahmatullah.
He said the number of participating countries in the Asian Games Qualifiers has not been confirmed yet, but seven teams -- Brunei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan and the hosts -- will participate in the World Hockey League as per the recommendation of the IHF.
The BHF had previously hosted the Asian Games Qualifiers in 2010 and Bangladesh earned their tickets to the Guangzhou Asian Games as the fifth qualifiers, but this time it is yet to be decided how many teams will qualify for the 2014 Incheon Asian Games in South Korea.
With an eye on the Asian Games Qualifiers, the BHF has decided to start the national camp in the first week of December after consulting the clubs, who are set to take part in the Club Cup tournament and the Premier Division League. The new hockey season will get underway through the Victory Day Cup from December 5, Rahmatullah added.