ZCZC
BSP-05
HOCKEY-ASIA CUP
Junior Asia Cup Hockey deferred again
DHAKA, May 5, 2021 (BSS)- The Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) is planning to push back again the Bangabandhu Men’s Junior Asia Cup Hockey which is scheduled to be held from July 1-10 at Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka.
Considering the current COVID-19 situation, the ministry has advised the BHF not to hold the tournament in July.
“We recently sent a letter to the ministry seeking their suggestion to host the tournament in July but the ministry advised us not to hold the tournament at that time considering the COVID-19 pandemic,” BHF acting general secretary Mohammad Yousuf told BSS today.
“We’ll now inform the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) about it so that the AHF can communicate with the remaining nine countries to set a new date for the tournament,” he added.
Yousuf said in this COVID-19 situation it’s not possible to bring the nine participating countries of the tournament at a time because all international flights has been suspended.
The competition was originally scheduled to be held on June 4-12 last year but the tournament was postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic. The AHF rescheduled the fixtures of the tournament for January 21-30 this year but it deferred again and rescheduled it for July 1-10.
Ten countries will take part in the tournament. The ten countries are Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan, India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and host Bangladesh.
The tournament will serve as qualifying tournament for the Junior International Hockey Federation World Cup later this year in India.
Bangladesh Earlier reached the quarter final of the Junior Asia Cup Hockey meet held in 2015 in Malaysia beating Oman by 5-4 goals, defeating South Korea 2-0 but lost to Pakistan by 1-3 goals in group stage.
In the quarterfinal, Bangladesh suffered a 0-3 defeat against Japan, besides they suffered a crushing 0-8 goal defeat against hosts Malaysia in a place-deciding match.
BSS/SG/ARS/1815 hrs