Bangladesh hockey team heads to China for Asian Games tune-up

The Bangladesh national hockey team will depart for China on Wednesday for a crucial Asian Games preparation tour, featuring six practice matches against the China national team and China ‘A’ team.

The contingent will leave Terminal 1 of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a China Southern Airlines flight at 9:45pm for Beijing Daxing Airport.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Under-20 teams are already in Moqi, China, preparing for their respective junior tournaments at the Morin Dawa Sports Complex.

The boys underwent a rigorous training session at Ground One on Tuesday, while the girls played a practice match against Malaysia at Ground Two.

Despite making a strong start, Bangladesh’s girls suffered a 4-1 defeat against the powerful Malaysian side. The match was played over three 12-minute quarters.

Nolima Nupur gave Bangladesh a brilliant 1-0 lead in the opening quarter, but Malaysia hit back strongly and scored four unanswered goals to seal the win.

Head coach Arif Ali, however, drew positives from the defeat.

“Malaysia is an extremely strong and big team. The girls fought quite well against them. However, we noticed some weaknesses and shortcomings in certain areas of the match,” he said.

The Under-20 women’s team will face Chinese Taipei in their opening match of the main tournament.

Ali remains optimistic that the practice match will help the team identify and rectify their weaknesses before the competition begins.

The coach said the players will work on the mistakes exposed against Malaysia and step onto the pitch against Chinese Taipei with a clear target of securing victory.