Sports Desk: The Hockey Champions Trophy started on Friday (October 28) with a grand opening ceremony at Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in the capital. For the first time franchise-based hockey league is being held in the country with the participation of six teams. Through this, the name of Bangladesh hockey was written in history. Entered the franchise era.
Saif Pawar Khulna and Ekmi Chittagong face off in the opening match today at 6:30 PM. Chittagong beat Khulna 3-2 in this match. Icon Devinder Valmiki scored two goals for the winning team. Another foreigner Florian Elvis Sperling scored the other goal for Chittagong. PC specialist captain Khorshedur Rahman and Tanjeem Ahmed scored two goals for Saif Power Group Khulna.
The match between Saif Power Group Khulna and Ekmi Chittagong continues with attack-counter-attack. ACME got the first PC of the match in 12 minutes of the first quarter. They could not use it. Rezaul Karim Babu stopped Ashraful Alam’s push; India’s Devinder Valmiki hit the post from there. Couldn’t score. In the next minute, the PC again gets the PC. This time also the players of the failed team. Saif did not get any PC in the first quarter.
Saif got the PC in the 9th minute of the second quarter. The team’s German player, Maurice Frei, failed to clear the goal after a weak shot. In the next minute, Ekmir’s Ashraful Alam was illegally thrown into the box by Saif’s goalkeeper Biplab Kuzur. The referee whistled for a penalty stroke. However, despite getting a penalty stroke, Ekmir Devinder could not score. Regret didn’t last long. Within minutes, the PC gets infected. This time, Devinder gave Ekmi’s early lead by scoring from PC. Ekmi Chittagong leads by 1-0.
The players of Saif Power Group Khulna became desperate to pay the goal after falling behind. Saif picked up PC in the fourth minute of the third quarter i.e. 34 minutes. Khorshed took a hit from Tapur’s push Guido’s stop. But Ekmi’s goalkeeper Sajibur Rahman blocked Khorshid’s hit with great skill. But there was no last defense. Saif Tanjim got the ball blocked by the goalkeeper and put it into Ekmir’s net. Saif returned to parity (1-1). The joy of the goal faded in the 38th minute of the match. Devinder’s goal again leads Ekmir. He scored from PC. Ekmir Devinder took a direct hit along the post from Rezaul Karim Babu’s stop at Spurling’s push. Ekmi leads by 2-1.
The struggle of the previous three quarters continued in the fourth and final quarter of the match. Two more goals were scored in this half. Ekmir’s foreign recruit Sperling increased the lead of the team by scoring in the 53rd minute. A field goal made the difference 3-1. Saif Khorshed reduced the gap in the 59th minute of the match. He scored from PC (3-2). Saif Power Group Khulna left the field with a loss in the first match as there were no more goals in the rest of the match. Malaysian Hafiz Zainul was selected as the man of the match.
Saif Power Khulna and Ekmi Chittagong match was preceded by a grand opening ceremony. As of writing this report, Monarch Padma and Rupayan City Comilla faced each other in the second match of the day.
Each team will face each other twice in round robin system. The first phase of the game will end on November 12. Two days break on October 30 and November 11. There will be two matches each day. There will be three matches on the last day of the first phase on November 12. The top four teams will advance to the next round. The top two teams will meet in the qualifiers. The winning team will go to the final. The losing team gets one more chance. They will compete in the second qualifier against the winner of the match between the third and fourth placed teams in the eliminator.
The Maulana Bhasani Stadium will be played under floodlights every day. The games are being watched live on T-Sports.
