Dhaka Mercantile Co-operative Bank comes to hockey's aid

The Dhaka Mercantile Co-Operative Bank Limited came forward to sponsor Bangladesh national hockey team for the upcoming AHF Cup, the qualifying tournament for Asia Cup 2022.

The tournament is scheduled to take place in Jakarta from March 11 to 20 with the top three teams joining the automatic qualifiers – India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Pakistan – in the Asia Cup.

"We are pleased to thank the sponsors for coming forward to sponsor the national team, which has a bright chance in the upcoming AHF Cup where have been champions in the last two editions in 2016 and 2012," Bangladesh Hockey Federation's (BHF) acting general secretary Mohammad Yousuf said at the cheque handover ceremony at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium today.

The training camp with 28 players, under interim coach Iman Gobinathan Krishnamurthy, at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP) will start tomorrow.

"We will request the Mercantile Co-operative Bank to be involved with hockey for a long term and provide financial help to rope in a foreign coach. If the bank comes forward, hockey in Bangladesh will progress more," said Yousuf.

BHF president Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan received the cheque worth Tk 50 lakh from DMCB chairman Abu Jafar Chowdhury.

"Before coming here, the BHF president informed me that Bangladesh hockey is ranked sixth in Asia and has the potential to go up to third. However, I have asked him whether it is possible to become number one in Asia? And to achieve the target, what should we do? I think we can discuss how we can work together in future because we want to stay with hockey," said Chowdhury.