A source from the Bangladesh Hockey Federation revealed the blue turf for the Maulana Bhashani Hockey Stadium is likely to arrive in the country in the middle of this month, almost a month before the scheduled date.
The hockey turf was expected to arrive in Bangladesh in October, but instead the turf will be arriving at the Chittagong port on September 12.
“The turf manufacturing company Sports Technology International informed us earlier that the turf will arrive in Chittagong on October 3. But a shipping company named Hanjin Shipping informed us that the turf will land at Chittagong port on September 12,” said Wing Commander Rafiul Hauque, spokesperson of BHF president Air Marshal Enamul Bari. A sand turf along with the blue turf will also arrive which will be used for practice and is likely to be installed at BAF Shaheen School.
Meanwhile, the federation has not yet decided when the installation process of the blue turf will begin. Earlier, BHF planned to set up the blue turf in December, following the end of the Under-19 Junior AHF Cup hockey tournament organised by Asian Hockey Federation in November. However, the turf will only be installed at the playing area as the practice area beside the field will still have the existing green turf. The budget of laying out the turf at the hockey stadium is more than Tk30m.