U-18 hockey team eye winning start in China

Bangladesh men's youth hockey team are looking for a positive start to their U-18 Asia Cup campaign today when they take on Hong Kong in the first match of Pool A in Dazhou, China on Thursday.

The match will get underway at 6:30am Bangladesh time.

With the top two teams from the pool slated to qualify for the semifinals, Bangladesh coach feels they cannot slip up in the opening two fixtures – against Hong Kong and Sri Lanka – as the group stage will get more competitive towards the business end, where Bangladesh will face China before wrapping up against top-ranked Pakistan.

Bangladesh, runners-up of last edition held in Dhaka nine years ago, had a 30-minute practice match against Kazakhstan, coming out with a 4-0 win after having landed in the northeastern city of China on the previous day.

Bangladesh coach Moududur Rahman Shuvo, speaking to The Daily Star from Dazhou yesterday afternoon, said that all the players are fit and that the weather is similar to that of Dhaka's.

"The practice game was more of getting accustomed to the conditions and the turf here. We are comfortable and looking forward to a positive start," said Shuvo, whose charges feature 16 running BKSP students and two who have already graduated from the sports institute.

"We can't take any chances. We will have to win the first two matches because things will get tougher from thereon. We want to start with a victory, no matter what the scoreline is," added Shuvo, who had guided the under-21 team to their first-ever World Cup qualification last year.

Shuvo informed that the women's team, too, played a similar practice game against Kazakhstan, running 3-0 victors. Coached by Zahid Hasan Raju, the women's team will start their campaign against Japan tomorrow.