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BSP-11
HOCKEY-MAHBUB HARUN-INTERVIEW
Try to make local crowds happy: coach Mahbub Harun
DHAKA, Sept. 25, 2020 (BSS)- Bangladesh Senior Men’s Hockey team coach Mahbub Harun said he would try to make the local crowds happy as his side would give their best performance in the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy Hockey scheduled to be held Next year in Dhaka.
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.
Host Bangladesh will come up against India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea with the top four in the round-robin progressing to the semi-finals.
The experienced coach Harun said: “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 drubbing 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.
With an interview with BSS, senior hockey team coach Mahbub Harun shared his thoughts and plans with the senior hockey team ahead of the tough tournament.
Quest: What is your target in the Champions Trophy?
Ans: Definitely, we’ll give a fight in the champions trophy… we’ll try to make happy to our spectators, who can say that the Bangladesh hockey team now can play hockey.
Quest: The senior hockey team is out of action since the last Asian Games held in 2018. Whether this prolonged gap will affect their performance in the Champions Trophy.
Ans: Definitely the gap will hamper the team’s performance because our senior team did not play any international match over the last 24 months. Even they hardly took any local competition. Not only Bangladesh but all the participating countries did not make team wise practice due to COVID-19 pandemic from March last. But in the last two years or before the COVID-19 pandemic the other team played international matches but our team played their last match in Asian Games. It’s a huge gap and it would be very difficult to regain the players’ fitness level. There is no way, we have to toil to make the players ready.
Quest: What will you focus more when you’ll get the players in the camp?
Ans: I will emphasize first on fitness of the players in the camp because I’ll have to restore the players’ fitness level which they lost during the long gap and then I’ll work on tactics and technique.
Quest: Whether the practice matches will be helpful for the team in this case?
Ans: Yes, it will be a requirement to the federation and I think the hockey federation must arrange some practice matches for the team because if the practice matches would not arrange, then how I will get an idea of my team’s strength and weak points and what will be the team’s format in the tournament. Before the last Asia Cup many practice matches were arranged for the senior team with the effect seen in the Asia Cup by finishing sixth position. I will tell the federation to arrange seven or eight matches and it will be better if the federation brings a foreign team here so that we can play the matches in the home ground because the tournament will be held in this field.
Quest: Do you feel any pressure as the tournament will be held in the home ground?
Ans: Yes, it’s a pressure for players, officials and also spectators because as a home team expectation will be always high from the team. I can only say that I have been motivating the players before the all tournaments under my coaching by saying that: “You are playing for the country and it’s your responsibility to protect the honor of the country.”
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