Hosts Bangladesh teams made mixed results in the opening day of the seven-nation International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy’ 2016 for men’s and women’s at the Shaheed (Capt) M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium and Shaheed Tajuddin Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.
Bangladesh women’s team made a good start beating Sri Lanka by 47-14 goals in the women’s match in the afternoon while Bangladesh men’s team conceded 31-45 goals defeat against defending champions India in the morning, both at Handball Stadium.
In the day’s other matches, India beat Pakistan by 41-16 goals and Nepal beat the Maldives by 28-7 in the women’s group while Pakistan beat the Maldives 25-10 goals and Nepal defeated Afghanistan by 27-22 goals.
Seven South Central Asian Countries, split into two groups, separately for the men and women, are taking part in the meet.
In the men’s section, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and the Maldives have been placed in Group A while India, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh are in Group B.
In the women’s competition, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh have been put in Group A while Group B comprises of India, Pakistan, Nepal and the Maldives.
Earlier, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, also the Chairman of the Organising Committee, inaugurated the five-day meet at the National Hanball Stadium, organised by Bangladesh handball Federation (BHF).
Chairman of the meet’s sponsor Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited Engineer Mustafa Anwar, General Secretary of Asian Handball Federation Shafiqur Rahman of Pakistan, IHF Lecturer (Referee) Tarje of Norway, IHF Lecturer (Coaches) Ali Habibi were also present at the function, chaired by BHF president AKM Nurul Fazal Bulbul. BHF general secretary Asaduzzaman Kohinoor gave the welcome speech.
In the day’s crucial match, India beat hosts Bangladesh by 45-31 goals after dominating the first half by 25-15 goals.
Anil Kudiya scored the match-highest 13 goals, Mohit scored nine, Kailash Patel and Ankit scored five goals each for India while Sohel Rana scored nine, Shakir Shamir Emon scored seven, Daliankhum Lusai netted five for Bangladesh.
After a cautious start by both the teams, India gradually drove them into the driving seat. Bangladesh fighting neck to neck till the 15th minute, but they slowly lost the momentum as India stamping their authority with their better conversion rate.
Using the flanks with more ease, the Indians hit the back of the Bangladesh net frequently. India led the first half 25-15 courtesy of a number of soft goals conceded by the Bangladesh defense and a number of misses by Bangladesh attackers.
However Bangladesh came back strong in the second half and started with an attacking approach but Indians held their fort strong and kept the momentum in their hand. Bangladesh added 16 more goals after the resumption while India raced to victory adding another 20.
Shashi Mohan Dhumal, the Indian coach expressed his satisfaction over his team performance and said “We have been practicing for the last 15 days with three sessions per day, we knew Bangladesh will post a strong challenge and we are happy to overcome it with a total team effort”.
Bangladesh coach Qamrul Islam Kiron thought his team requires improvement and said “India is a strong team but we pulled out 31 goals against them, that’s a good point, however, my defense has to improve in the next matches if we have to attain our goal of reaching the semis”.
