Booters gearing up

Despite having less than ideal preparation and facing troubles in Kathmandu, the Bangladesh football team are hoping to regain the supremacy of the South Asian Games, which will get underway in the capital of Nepal today.

The Bangladesh team came to Kathmandu on November 27 without having any local camp, and have faced logistical issues here in addition to the challenge of getting accustomed to the high altitude and cold. But the Bangladesh players and officials believe they have a great chance of winning the showpiece event for the third time in the Games’ history.

“There are issues like no gym and swimming pool at the team hotel. But we will have to play four matches in five days, which leaves us with little time to do gym or swimming. So we are not seeing those as big issues; rather we are confident that we can do very well. If we can’t do that, it will be a failure,” team manager Satyajit Das Rupu said yesterday.

Bangladesh will start their campaign against Bhutan on Monday before facing Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan in round-robin format matches. In absence of India and with Nepal and Maldives not as good at the under-23 level, players feel the battle for the title could be between hosts Nepal and Bangladesh.

“I think Nepal will be our main competitors as they will play on their home ground and in front of their own supporters. But we are focused on the Bhutan match right now, and with two wins in the last two matches against them, we are confident of making a good start to the tournament,” said striker Nabib Newaz Jibon, one of three senior players in the side with the other two being skipper Jamal Bhuiyan and defender Yeasin Khan.

The top two teams from the round-robin stage will play in the final, scheduled for December 10 at the Dasarath Rangasala.