Basketball team fly to Singapore tomorrow

A 19-member Bangladesh national basketball team will leave for Singapore tomorrow for a six-day training camp as well as at least three practice matches against their Sri Lankan counterparts as part of their preparation for December’s South Asian Games.

Bangladesh’s only medal in basketball discipline of the SA Games was a bronze which they won in Dhaka in 2010. The discipline was excluded from the 2016 SA Games roster in Guwahati but reinstated this time.

Bangladesh Basketball Federation (BBF) is targeting at least one silver medal from this year’s edition.

“There are less opportunities to play practice matches because we don’t have enough players. We arranged this tour so that they can play against better teams,” BBF general secretary AK Sarkar informed at a press conference at the Bangladesh Olympic Association yesterday.

Bangladesh team will be accompanied by coaches Wasif Ali and Mizanur Rahman while a FIBA coach will train the team in Singapore.

Bangladesh will take part in three events of basketball in the SA Games -- men’s 5-on-5, men’s 3-on-3 and women’s 5-on-5. The preparation camp began on July 15. The team is scheduled to return on October 24.