H'ball Trophy begins tomorrow

The International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy featuring men's U-20 and women's U-19 teams from seven countries will get underway across various venues sans the attendance of spectators from tomorrow.

“Security is very important and we have put a bar on spectators in line with recommendation from the law enforcers. However, we will allow some spectators to watch the matches but they must obtain designated gate passes from us because there are no tickets for sale,” said Bangladesh Handball Federation general secretary Asaduzzaman Kohinoor at a press conference yesterday.

The participating teams -- Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Maldives -- will be split into two groups and play round-robin league matches. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, while rest of the teams will play place-deciding matches.

The Bangladesh men's team have been placed in Group B alongside Sri Lanka and India, while the women's team have been pitted against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The men's team will start their campaign by taking on India.