Asian Games Hockey Qualifier: Bangladesh to play Indonesia on Saturday

Bangladesh National Hockey team will start their campaign in the nine-nation Men’s Asian Games Qualifiers taking on Indonesia in the Thai capital Bangkok on Saturday.

The match will kick-off at 10 am local time and 11 am Bangladesh time.

The Men’s Asian Games Hockey Qualifier already began in Bangkok on Friday despite the Asian Games Authority postponed the Hangzhou Asian Games indefinitely amid a recent surge in Covid-19 cases in China, the host country of the  games, reports UNB.

The Hangzhou Asian Games scheduled for September 10-25 this year in China.

Bangladesh team, which was placed in four-team Pool B of the Men’s  Asian Games Qualifiers with Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Singapore, will play Sri Lanka on May 10 and Singapore on May 12 in the remaining group matches.

Bangladesh team, which reached Bangkok on Thursday to compete in the Asian Games Qualifiers scheduled May 6-15, made their first practice session the same day (Thursday) and made another one and half hour long practices Friday morning.

Earlier, Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) announced an 18-member final national squad to compete in both the Asian Games Qualifiers and the Men’s Asia Cup Hockey, also naming two stand-by players.

BHF named also two separate captains for two tournaments keeping the same squad intact.

Rezaul Karim Babu will lead the Bangladesh team in the Asian Games Hockey Qualifier scheduled for May 6-15 in Bangkok while Khorshedur Rahman will captain the Bangladesh team in the Men’s a Asia Cup Hockey in Jakarta from May 23 to June 1.