Bangladesh women’s rugby team are all set to take part in the Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy for the first ever time as the final squads for both the men’s and women’s national rugby side were announced Wednesday, ahead of the tournament’s 2019 edition in Jakarta, Indonesia, starting Saturday.
The 10-member women’s rugby team will be led by SIM Ferdous Alam as coach and Alisa Islam as captain, while the 12-member men’s side will be guided by coach Mohammad Abdul Kader Shuman with Nadim Mahmud as captain.
Both the teams are scheduled to fly for Jakarta Friday.
Bangladesh women’s team are placed in Pool B along with South Korea, India, Laos and Qatar while the men’s side are grouped with Thailand and Afghanistan in Pool B.
The women’s team will begin their two-day event campaign against Laos before facing South Korea and Qatar, all on the opening day, while the men’s side take on Afghanistan and Thailand on the same day.
All the matches will be played at GBK Senayan Rugby Pitch in Jakarta.
Bangladesh Rugby Federation Union joint-secretary Sayeed Ahmed informed through a press conference Wednesday that both the teams had held a one-month training camp.
The women’s team, comprising eight U-18 players, trained at Rangpur Stadium for 26 days initially with 24 players, while the men’s side trained at the cantonment.
“Our team are very young but the players have the speed. South Korea, Qatar and India are better than us but we can hope to beat Laos. We have a long-term plan with this team. If we can keep them in training for four years then we will get the results,” said Sayeed.
