Bangladesh will be looking for a top four finish, which will provide them at least a bronze, as the Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation announced a 14-member squad for the IKF Women鈥檚 Kabaddi World Cup at the federation office on Saturday.
The tournament returns after a 13-year gap since the maiden edition was held with the participation of 16 teams in India in 2012, with Bangladesh losing to Japan in the quarter-finals.
A total of eleven countries will take part in the second edition of the tournament to be held at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium in the city from November 17 to 24.
The participating countries are hosts Bangladesh, defending champions India, Chinese Taipei, Germany, Iran, Kenya, Nepal, Poland, Thailand, Uganda and Zanzibar.
Among the visiting teams, Kenya, Thailand, Uganda, Poland and Germany arrived in the city on Saturday, the day after India arrived in the city on Friday.
In the pre-competition press conference, BKF general secretary SM Nawaz Shohag informed the media that the chief adviser to the interim government, professor Muhammad Yunus, will unveil the trophy of the competition at the State guest house Jamuna today.
Captains of all the participating nations are expected to attend the trophy unveiling ceremony.聽 The fixtures of the event will be revealed today following the managers鈥� meeting.
The matches of the World Cup will be streamed live on state-run television channel BTV and T-sports.
This time Bangladesh are more prepared than before, as they have played their first-ever Test series against Nepal in April following their bronze medal in the seven-nation Asian Women鈥檚 Kabaddi Championship in Iran in March this year.
Bangladesh continued their training at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan from early October as part of their preparation for the world meet.
Bangladesh coach Arduzzaman Munshi was optimistic that his charges will give their best to secure a medal.
鈥榃e started training with a fairly clear target in mind鈥he motivation is high as we are going to play at home ground鈥�
We have been prepared with the hope that we will at least win a medal,鈥� Arduzzaman told the media on Saturday.聽聽
鈥楾here has been no lack of effort in our training. We have been practicing consistently for long and are now sufficiently prepared for the World Cup,鈥� he added.
鈥楾o be true, except for current champions India, we have enough strength to defeat any team. So we are hopeful of winning a medal. And from our side, we will give our utmost effort,鈥� he concluded.
Bangladesh captain Rupali Akter (sr) echoed the coach by saying, 鈥極ur preparation is good. In the first World Cup, we finished fifth. This time we want to do better. In such a big tournament, everyone will come to give their best.鈥�
Squad: Sraboni Mollick, Brishty Biswas, Rupali Akter Sr (captain), Smrity Akter, Rekha Aktari, Mebi Chakma, Rupali Akter, Anjuara Ratri, Suchorita Chakma, Khadiza Khatun, Loba Akter, Yeasmin Khanom, Israt Jahan Sadika and Tahrim.
Standby: Afroza and Lumbini Chakma.