Bangladesh today starts their Asia Cup Hockey campaign against South Korea at Ipoh, Malaysia at 2pm.
Coached by Pakistan’s Naveed Alam, the national hockey team underwent nearly two months of training before leaving for Malaysia. Bangladesh reached there four days ago and played two practice matches, where they lost 5-0 to Pakistan and beat Chinese Taipei 3-1.
Bangladesh unfortunately had to adjust with the new playing conditions of the blue turf, and the yellow ball. In Dhaka the turf is green and the ball used is white.
Head coach Naveed Alam over phone said: “The players have adjusted to the conditions. Yes, there was a little difficulty in the beginning, but after two matches the players are comfortable now, they are ready to put their best against Korea.”
However, he was realistic about his target against Korea: “They are ahead of us in standard. We will play a compact defines-based game with counter attacks. We want to get the ingredients ready and obtain the motivation for the next game. If we can play according to plan, we will put a good show.”
The head coach said there are no injuries in the team and the players were raring to go.