‘Never thought of losing to Sri Lanka’

Seeing Bangladesh’s hockey team slump to a shocking 3-2 defeat against Sri Lanka in a Pool B match of the Men’s Asian Games Qualifiers in Bangkok yesterday must have felt like cruel deja vu for head coach Mohammad Ashiquzzaman.

The loss marked Bangladesh’s first defeat to Sri Lanka in 20 years. Incidentally, Ashiquzzaman himself had been part of the side that suffered a 2-0 loss in the bronze-deciding match of the South Asian Games hockey event in Colombo in 2006.

“We never thought of losing to Sri Lanka,” Ashiquzzaman told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.

“We simply could not play well. We had problems in the left-side midfield and in man-marking in deep defence, while the hot and humid weather [above 40 degrees] might have been one of the reasons for the poor performance,” he added.

Ashiquzzaman also felt the absence of midfielder Shohanur Rahman Sabuj -- who was withdrawn from the camp by his service team on disciplinary grounds -- might have affected the outcome. However, the Bangladesh coach vowed to bounce back with a win over Uzbekistan in their final Pool B match on Monday, which would secure a place in the semifinals and confirm their berth in September’s Asian Games.

“All the players and I are confident that we will bounce back against Uzbekistan to qualify for the semifinals and compete for the trophy,” he said.

With one win from two matches, Bangladesh currently sit third in the group, behind table-toppers Sri Lanka and second-placed Uzbekistan. While Bangladesh must beat the Uzbeks in their final group game to ensure a semifinal spot, the men in red and green only need to finish among the top three in the group, as the top six teams from the two groups in the qualifiers will make it to the Asian Games.

Regardless of the permutations, the defeat to Sri Lanka has prompted reflection on the issues plaguing the sport in Bangladesh.

“You know well that Bangladesh have had no domestic competitions for a long time, and the boys came here to play the qualifiers without any warm-up matches,” Ashiquzzaman explained. “Meanwhile, Sri Lanka introduced a franchise-based hockey league alongside their premier league, and they also played a tri-nation tournament in Hong Kong before arriving in Thailand four days ahead of the competition.”

Ashiquzzaman also mentioned that luck did not favour his side. Despite earning more circle penetrations and penalty corners, Bangladesh failed to capitalise, while the Sri Lankan goalkeeper denied them on several occasions.