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.