National hockey team preparing for Asia Cup
April 6, 2009
The preparation of Bangladesh national hockey team is going on in full
swing for the forthcoming 8th Asia Cup under the guidance of German
coaches at Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in the city.
Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) has appointed two high profile
German coaches for the Bangladesh national team ahead of the Asia Cup,
taking place in Malaysia next month. Gerhard Peter Rach has been
appointed as the Director, Coaching of BHF and Oliver Michell Kurtz as
the Head Coach of the national team for the most prestigious event of
Asian hockey.“We worked hard to find out a foreign coach for our
national team. Thank God, we’ve got two German coaches at a time.
Gerhard Peter Rach is a very high profile coach. Earlier, he coached
the Indian national hockey team for four years. We’re very much pleased
to have him for our national team,” the General Secretary of BHF
Khondoker Jamil Uddin told “The Bangladesh Today’ on Sunday.
As per agreement, the two German coaches will look after the Bangladesh
team till the 8th Asia Cup and then the BHF will look forward to
signing long term deal with them, he said.
“Our main target is next year’s South Asian Games, but we’re expecting
some good results from our lads in the Asia Cup, where they’ll stand
against the Asian powerhouses like South Korea, Japan India and
Pakistan. Bangladesh is going to the final round as the champion team
of AHF Cup, the qualifying competition of the Asia Cup hockey, last
year in Singapore,” Jamil added.
“There are lots of talents, but they (Bangladeshi players) lacked basic
sense of the game. They also need to improve their fitness level. But
we have not enough time before the Asia Cup to improve in this area.
However, I am hopeful to build up a strong team after several months,”
Peter Rach said.
Bangladesh team is undergoing hard practices. The preparation of the
national team started in January. After the first phase of selection
process, 30 players are picked to continue with the camp. The final
selection will be made before the Asia Cup starts.
The 8th Asia Cup hockey championship will be held in the Malaysian
coastal city of Kuantan from May 9 to 16. Ten teams are taking part in
the competition. The teams are Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Oman,
Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea and Sri Lanka.