Pintu, Rana, Mimo out of 18-man squad

The Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) yesterday revealed an 18-member team for next month's Asian Games qualifiers to be held in Oman from March 8 to 17.

Veterans Imran Hasan Pintu, Kamruzzaman Rana and Pushkor Khisha Mimo were excluded from the final squad, believed to be due to their lack of form as well as to give a chance to young promising players in the qualifying campaign.

“Defender Pintu, midfielder Rana and forward Mimo were all part of Bangladesh's last international assignment which was the Asia Cup [held in Dhaka in October last year]. We, the coaching staff and selectors felt that their performance was not up to the mark. Hence we wanted to try out three promising young players – Shohanur Rahman Sobuj, Fazle Rabbi and Deen Islam Emon – in those positions. However, those three excluded players will definitely be in consideration for future events,” said head coach Mahbub Harun while speaking to The Daily Star yesterday.

Having started the training camp with 38 players about a month and 10 days ago, the Bangladesh squad was subsequently reduced to 28 members before the final 18-member list was announced. The team is going through some intense training at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium, but they have not yet played a practice match for this tournament.

Harun, however, feels his side will play to win in the qualifying campaign. “Our target is obviously to qualify for the Asian Games as the champions of these qualifiers” Harun told The Daily Star yesterday.

Bangladesh have been drawn in Pool A alongside Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and Afghanistan for the upcoming Asian Games Qualifying Round in Oman while the hosts have been placed in Group B alongside Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan.

The nine teams will vie for six qualifying spots for this year's Asian Games, to be held in Indonesia, from August 18 to September 2.

Indonesia, as hosts of the Asian Games, will have a direct entry into the competition. Hence if they fail to qualify, a total of five teams from this campaign will be in the Asian Games while if Indonesia do qualify, there will be six qualifiers from here. The other six teams – the top six sides in Asian ranking -- will play directly in the Asian Games.

Bangladesh will begin their campaign against Afghanistan on March 9 and then play Thailand, Hong Kong and Indonesia respectively in the span of four days.

“Oman are a good side. We will probably face competition from teams like Hong Kong and Thailand as well, but we know we can become champions,” Harun added.

The veteran coach informed that the team will leave for Oman on March 6 and will play a pre-tournament practice match against Kazakhstan the following day.

Squad

Ashim Gope, Abu Sayed Nippon, Khorshedur Rahman, Farhad Ahmed Shetul, Rezaul Karim Babu, Ashraful Islam, Shohanur Rahman Sobuj, Mamunur Rahman Chayan, Sarwar Hossain, Roman Sarkar, Hasan Jubair Niloy, Naim Uddin, Fazle Rabbi, Rasel Mahmud Jimmy, Milon Hossain, Mainul Islam Koushik, Arshad Hossain, Deen Islam Emon.