DHAKA, Aug 28, 2020 (BSS) – The U-21 Junior Asia Cup Hockey will be
held in the name of Father of the Nation. The tournament will be held
in home ground and it will be a good opportunity for Bangladesh to
confirm their ticket of Youth World Cup Hockey. All in all the
Bangladesh U-21 hockey team stand at the door of one possibility.
But, bad news for the youth hockey team as eight out of thirty six
players earlier selected for the camp will not be able to play the
tournament due to over age barrier. Among the eight players five
players are experienced and probable players of best eleven.
“Yes there are eight players who are little too old to have this
problem due to the tournament that has defer to January next year….
there will be no problem with them if the tournament will be held in
December…. I think the other participating countries will also face
the same problem. We’ll correspondent with Asian Hockey Federation
(AHF) with this issue…. let’s see then what happen,” said the
Bangladesh Hockey Federation acting general secretary Mohammad Yousuf
to BSS today.
Hockey’s chief coach Mamunur Rashid also echoed the same statement,
saying that in this case the BHF can negotiate with AHF with this
issue as the tournament has been postponed due to pandemic reason.
He said among the eight there are some key players and if they will
not be able to play, the team will be ultimately suffered and the team
will also have to be reorganised. BHF can request AHF to consider the
over age barrier as Bangladesh is going to host the tournament.
The Men’s Junior Asia Cup was originally scheduled to take place in
Dhaka on June 4-14 this year with the participation of ten countries,
but the Asian AHF postponed the tournament in March due to COVID-19
pandemic.
The BHF will host the Bangabandhu Men’s Junior Asia Cup Hockey
scheduled to be held on 21-30 January next at Moulana Bhasani National
Hockey Stadium, After the Asian Hockey Federation confirmed the date
of the tournament.
The ten countries are Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan, India, Oman,
Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and host Bangladesh.
Among the ten countries top six teams – Bangladesh, India, Japan,
Pakistan, South Korea and Malaysia — of last tournament will directly
play this year’s tournament while remaining four teams — China,
Chinese Taipei , Oman and Uzbekistan – have come after participating
in the selection round held in Oman last year.
The top three countries of the Junior Asia Cup will qualify for the
next edition of Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup.