Mimo, Niloy recalled

The Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) yesterday announced an 18-member squad for the Men's 10th Asia Cup hockey tournament with the experienced strike pair of Pushkor Khisa Mimo and Hasan Jubair Niloy returning to the fold.

The eight-nation tournament, which will begin in Dhaka on October 11, pits the hosts in Pool B alongside India, Pakistan and Japan.

Mimo and Niloy were not considered by former coach Oliver Kurtz for the Hockey World League Round-2 held in Dhaka in March where they faced trouble up front against giants like Malaysia and Oman, who beat Bangladesh in group stages and finished ahead of fifth-placed Bangladesh in the eight-team group.

After the departure of Kurtz, Mahbub Harun recalled both the experienced campaigners and kept them in the final squad along with midfielder Sarwar Hossain, who will serve a three-match suspension starting with the first game in the Asia Cup.

“For us, place-deciding matches are more important than the group-stage matches, which is why we have kept Sarwar in the squad so that he can play the matches from the quarterfinal stage. Besides, we also have a shortage of quality midfielders,” Harun said, adding that they have picked those who have impressed in the training sessions as well as during the recent tour of China.

Squad: Ashim Gope, Abu Sayeed Nippon, Ashraful Islam, Khorshedur Rahman, Farhad Ahmed Shitul, Rezaul Karim Babu, Imran Hasan Pintoo, Mamunur Rahman Chayan, Ruman Sarker, Naeem Uddin, Hasan Jubair Niloy, Sarwar Hossain, Kamruzzaman Rana, Rasel Mahmud Jimmy (capt), Pushkor Khisha Mimo (vice capt), Milon Hossain, Moinul Islam Koushik and Arshad Hossain.