Naveed Alam, the head coach of Bangladesh national hockey team has urged the hockey federation to ensure his as well as the players’ mental peace in order to produce a satisfactory result in the upcoming Asian Games which is scheduled to be held at Incheon, Korea in September next.
Naveed, whose current contract expires on June 30 this year and is set to renew his contract with Bangladesh Hockey Federation, has also placed a number of demands to the federation. “First of all, I made it clear that the level of competition in the Asian Games are far higher than the qualifiers and I would take all the responsibility of the success and failure if a number of demands are met,” said Naveed.
“The federation must form a panel of coaches who will work with specific sections. The formation of the national team also goes through some changes. The team also needs a good video analyst, the plan of preparation including the tours and the warm-up matches, and the peace of mind of the players and the coaches above all. In short, I asked the federation to ensure a fully professional set up,” added Naveed.
Naveed further added that he had asked the federation to increase his salary also. “Bangladesh Hockey Federation has provided 3500 US dollars per month to me. I asked them to increase the amount. However, I did not specifically say what the amount will be and it’s up to the federation to decide. I want to say that I am committed to my work and I believe Bangladesh has the potential in hockey.”
Naveed said that he had talked with some provincial hockey teams of Pakistan during his vacation and among them, Punjab has agreed to play practice matches against Bangladesh. “It can be here or in Pakistan and the reason why I chose them was they have a number of Pakistan national team players. So it would be a good warm-up for the team before the Asian Games,” Naveed revealed.
Naveed said that he is all set to start the Asian Games camp with 35 players from June 1.
