Kurtz finally roped in

The Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) finally appointed Oliver Kurtz as head coach of the national hockey team, with the German penning a contract which will run until October.

Kurtz is expected to go to BKSP today to take charge of the national team, which he guided to glory in the AHF Cup last November. The camp has been running on at the BKSP for the past week, but Kurtz was left sitting idle in the capital as the agreement could not be reached earlier.

“We have signed a contract involving three parties -- the BHF, Oliver Kurtz and sponsors Index Group. The agreement will be effective from January 1 to October 31 till Bangladesh's Asia Cup engagement,” said BHF general secretary Abdus Sadeque.

Sadeque informed that the national team would be touring South Africa in February to play some practice matches as part of their preparations for the Hockey World League, which is scheduled to be held in Dhaka from March 4 to 12.

“If we can't play a few practice matches then it will be tough for us to produce good results in the Hockey World League, where there teams like Canada and China will play. Our sponsors, Index Group, are supposed to bear all the expenditures of the South Africa tour,” said the legendary hockey player.

It has been learnt that Index Group will provide the German coach with food, accommodation, transport and three round-trip air-tickets to Germany in the 10-month period, alongside a monthly salary of 5,000 dollars under the agreement.