U17s excited for AFC Qualifiers challenge

Amidst all the criticisms over the Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF) inability to send the women's football team to the Paris Olympic Qualifiers in Myanmar, the focus now shifts to the girls, who are waiting to prove themselves in the upcoming AFC U-17 Women's Asia Cup Qualifiers, starting on April 26 in Singapore.

Players like Ruma Akter, Souravi Akanda Prity, Trishna Rani, Joynab Bibi, Kanon Rani, Sanggita Rani, Puja Das and Nusrat Jahan Ritu have already gathered valuable experience having played in the SAFF U-15 Women's Championship in November 2022 followed by the SAFF U-17 Women's Championship in March 2023 which they will look to put to good use.

Golam Rabbani Choton's troops are eagerly waiting to prove their worth in the Group D fixtures against debutant Turkmenistan and hosts Singapore.  "Our target is to win both matches to emerge as group champions and progress to the Round-2 of the qualification," head coach Golam Rabbani Choton told The Daily Star.

"The girls are really excited to go abroad and play the tournament for the first time away from home. They are also eager to perform on foreign soil," he added.

The eight group-winners will advance to the AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers Round 2 scheduled for September 16 to 24. They will be divided into two groups and the top two teams from each will join the three highest-seeded sides from the AFC U-16 Women's Championship Thailand 2019 – defending champions Japan, DPR Korea, and China PR – and hosts Indonesia in the finals, set for April seven to 20 in 2024.