Bangladesh U-20 National Kabaddi Team will leave Dhaka for Iran this evening to participate in the 2nd Junior Kabaddi World Championship, scheduled to be held from February 28 to March 4 in Urmia, Iran.
Bangladesh ended joint third along with Pakistan as they conceded a 20-52 point defeat to the hosts Iran in the maiden edition of this age-level competition held in Kish Island, Iran in November 2019.
Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation vice-president Hafizur Rahman Khan announced a 12-member squad of U-20s at the BKF premises on Friday.
BKF general secretary and Additional IGP Habibur Rahman was also present there. Hafizur said that they have been preparing this team for the last two months targeting the final under Indian coach Srinivas Reddy Lingampally and his deputy former national captain Ziaur Rahman.
“The target is final. But it won’t be an easy task because teams like India, Iran, Kenya, Pakistan and Thailand have also taken their best preparations,” the BKF VP said. Head coach Srinivas said that they have no idea about their opponents but they have faith in these youngsters.
“We have no idea about the opponents and have to plot our plan after going to Iran. This team is young and highly motivated which is making me confident. They played against seniors (Team B of the national camp) in the practice match and showed their fighting spirit,” the coach said.
The Indian coach started a residential camp with 82 players two months ago. Some 54 players out of 82-member were selected from the last IGP Youth Kabaddi while 15 players came from National Sports Council’s talent hunt and 13 from Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP).
This year, a total of 16 teams -- split into four groups -- will take part in the meet -- champions Iran, runners-up Kenya, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Turkiye, Malaysia, Nepal, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Estonia.
The fixture will be confirmed on Monday while the matches of the group stage will start on Tuesday.
Bangladesh squad: Rohan Mia, Taslim Uddin, Jewel Islam, Abu Raihan, Ibrahim Khalil, Mahbubur Rahman Imran, Md Ferdous, Abujohr Sarkar, Ujjapan (C), Nahid Hasan, Shah Mohammed Shahan and Mahim Hossain.
Stand by: Fahim Ali, Minhajul Rabbi and Tambir Mia.
