Bangladesh teams get ready
Most of the teams representing Bangladesh for the Asian Games in Indonesia are already in either Jakarta or Palembang, the two different host cities on two separate islands, as the multisport event opens today.
The football team was the first to arrive as four events -- football, basketball, handball and water polo --have already gotten underway a few days ahead of the official opening ceremony.
The football team has already played two matches while the hockey team, which will start their campaign on August 20, arrived in Jakarta on Thursday. The shooting and kabaddi teams -- two of the medal hopeful events -- are also in Palembang and Jakarta respectively and have continued their training there.
KABADDI MEN GET TOUGH GROUP
The grouping in kabaddi, one of the disciplines that has traditionally earned medals for Bangladesh, was finalised yesterday as the men in red and green were pitted in a very tough group while the women were handed a relatively easier one.
Bangladesh men's team will be playing against India, South Korea, Thailand and Sri Lanka in Group A. India won all seven gold medals available in men's kabaddi while South Korea won a bronze medal last time around. Group B features the runners-up of the last two editions, Iran, alongside last edition's bronze medallists Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal and Indonesia.
The women's team were pitted in Group B, which also features last edition's runner-up Iran, along with South Korea and Chinese Taipei. Group A features defending champions India alongside Thailand, Japan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
The last time the Bangladesh men's team won a medal was in the 2006 edition while the women won bronze medals in both the 2010 and 2014 editions.
BOOTERS MOVE TO BEKASI
The Bangladesh under-23 football team yesterday moved from Bogor to Bekasi, where they will play their last match of Group B against Qatar on Sunday.
Jamie Day's charges were in relatively good spirits after holding Thailand to a 1-1 draw in their second match and especially after watching Qatar go down 6-0 against Uzbekistan on Thursday night.
Bangladesh will look to win against Qatar to go through to the second round, even though a draw in that match might still be enough to see them through, depending on what happens in the other match to be played between the already-qualified Uzbekistan and second-placed Thailand.
The team had their practice at a local venue in the evening. “The group is wide open, and there is still a slot available,” team manager Satyajit Das Rupu said prior to training. “We don't want to look at what Qatar did against Uzbekistan. We just need to play our own game and all the players are focused on doing well in the next game.”
HOCKEY TEAM WARM UP
The Bangladesh hockey team, which arrived in Jakarta on Thursday morning, played a warm-up match on the same evening before playing against India yesterday. Khorshedur Rahman received a knock on his leg and sat out yesterday's warm-up game, which Bangladesh lost 7-1. The men in red and green had put four past Indonesia in the 45-minute game on the previous day. Gobinathan Krishnamurthy's charges will start their campaign against Oman on Monday.
Meanwhile, the chef de mission of the Bangladesh contingent Abul Hossain, a former chief of Border Guard Bangladesh, left Jakarta for Dhaka yesterday morning due to his mother's death. AK Sarker, the general secretary of the Bangladesh Basketball Federation and deputy chef de mission, will deputise for Abul Hossain, it has been learnt.
