Published on 12:00 AM, September 08, 2018

BHF says no to Pak tourney

The Bangladesh Hockey Federation has decided against sending the national team to the upcoming Hockey Series Open, which is scheduled to take place in Pakistan from September 25-30 in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Six teams -- Bangladesh, Oman, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Qatar and Afghanistan -- were supposed to take part in the hockey event but Bangladesh withdrew from the recently introduced Asian Hockey Federation event.

“Teams like Oman and Thailand are not taking part in the tournament, so the meeting of the BHF Working Committee on Thursday decided not to send a team from Bangladesh,” said BHF joint secretary Ehsan Rana yesterday.

“Since the teams aren't at our level, we don't see the need to play against low-ranked sides by spending 20 to 25 lakhs of taka. Besides, some of the players will be travelling to Europe to play in European leagues, which is another reason for not sending the team,” Rana said, adding that they would inform the concerned authority within a couple of days.

Rana also informed of another reason for Bangladesh's opting out of the tournament, citing visa complications as another factor they considered when making their decision.