My boys will try to satisfy local crowds: Coach Mahbub Harun

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Sports Reporter :
Coach of Bangladesh Senior Men’s Hockey team Mahbub Harun said his boys will try to satisfy the local crowds. Hosts Bangladesh Senior Men’s Hockey team will take part in the forthcoming Asian Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in next year at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium.
The Bangladesh Men’s Hockey team is scheduled to contest the major international tournament over 24 months after the Asian Games held in Indonesia back in 2018.
The competition was originally scheduled for November this year in Dhaka, but the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has rescheduled the biennial event to March 11-19 next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
First held in 2011, this will be the sixth edition of the continental tournament, India won it three times- in 2011, 2016 and 2018- where they were awarded the title jointly with Pakistan.
The Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka looks set to be the second major event of 2021 after Bangabandhu Youth Asia Cup Hockey in January and the first continental tournament in over 15 months.
Hosts Bangladesh, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Pakistan will take part in the Asian Champions Trophy, the most prestigious hockey meet in Asia.
The experienced coach Harun said to the newsmen: “Our target would be to play good hockey in the Champions Trophy but you know which teams we have to deal with in the tournament. All five teams are very strong though we have the previous experience of playing with all the teams, so we’ll give fight at the end and our target will be to improve the team’s ranking one more step.”
Bangladesh Senior team played their last international match in Asian Games Hockey in Indonesia in 2018. The Bangladesh Hockey team finished sixth position after losing to South Korea by 7-0 goals in the fifth place-deciding encounter.
Coach Mahbub Harun admitted that it would be difficult for him to make the team ready for the tough tournament because the players are out of action over the 24 months and on the other hand the Hockey Federation has not taken a decision yet to start off the training camp for the tournament.
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