Hockey league starts today
Club Cup champions Mariner Youngs Club will take on Bangladesh Police in the opening match of the Green Delta Insurance Premier Division Hockey League, which gets underway at the Maulana Bhashani Hockey Stadium today.
Defending champions Mohammedan will take on Dilkusha SC while former champions Abahani will play against Azad SC in the two other matches on the opening day of the league, which returns to the turf following a three-year absence.
A total of 12 teams will play against each other once to decide the qualifiers for the Super Five round, with 66 matches to be played in the first round over the course of the next one month. The eight teams participating in the Club Cup will be joined by Shadharan Bima, Dilkusha, Victoria and Wari to make up the 12 teams of the premier league.
A press conference in this regard was arranged yesterday at the Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) conference room where the organisers and sponsors spoke about various issues of the league.
BHF's acting general secretary Mohammad Yousuf expected that there won't be any trouble on the pitch during this league.
"We will conduct the matches with foreign umpires. Two of them have already arrived and another one is scheduled to come. The club officials are sincere about keeping discipline on the turf. We have learnt from the mistakes of the club cup. Hopefully, the league will be without trouble," Yousuf said.
There were rumours that Mohammedan might skip the league after giving walk-over to Mariner Youngs in the Club Cup semifinal in protest of suspension to Rasel Mahmud Jimmy. But the BHF GS brushed aside the rumour, saying: "There is no binding requirement for any team to play in the Club Cup as it is an invitational tournament. But Mohammedan will have to play in the league and they have assured us, in writing, about participating. However, if Jimmy wants to play, he will have to pay Tk 50,000 fine first."
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