The qualifying round of the Asian Cup Hockey starts today in Dhaka with eight nations divided into two groups of four. Group ‘A’ comprises Qatar, Sree Lanka, Taiwan and Oman while Group ‘B’ represents hosts Bangladesh, Singapore, Hong Kong of China and Iran. Two group champions will qualify for the final round. China, India, Japan, Malaysia Pakistan and Defending Champions South Korea are automatic qualifiers.
Once hockey was a very popular sport in the copuntry. It was second to soccer. In the sixties, seventies and eighties, the promising youths and students were seen playing hockey. Several times, Bangladesh produced sparkling performance against world class Pakistan, India and South Korea. But sadly there was no program from the sports ministry to take the hockey to the continental semifinals. The sudden rise of cricket as sports power in the mid nineties pushing hockey to the 3rd position made the situation more delicate for the hockey federation.
One of the reasons of setback is the irregular hockey league and tournament. Last year we saw a hectic tussle between the players and the federation over financial security. The TV and the newspaper coverage of hockey are also very poor. As for example, a few TV channels are giving treatment to the Asian Cup Hockey qualifying round. In this adverse situation, if Bangladesh become champions in the qualifying round, that will be a great achievement. We want so. Will the hockey players make it for us? Every match will be played in the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium.
Dhaka
