Joy terms Bhutan debacle an accident

Deputy minister for youth and sports Arif Khan Joy termed Bangladesh's defeat at the hands of Bhutan in the Asian Cup Qualifiers playoff as 'an accident' and blamed the then coach for wrong team selection.

“Bhutan result was an accident. Brazil lost to Germany 1-7, so anything can happen in sports,” said Joy during a press conference titled 'Government's overall activities in sports in the last three years' at the Dhaka Club yesterday.

Asked whether he and the sports ministry have any responsibly as the country's football hit its lowest FIFA ranking in history, Joy said: “Whatever success we have achieved are all yours and any failure is ours. There was no motivation [among the players] in the match against Bhutan and coach de Kruif [should be Tom Saintfiet] fielded non-division players and the selection was not right. We will bounce back within a year.”

While the deputy minister claimed a lot of successes have been achieved in the last three years, referring mostly to cricket, women's football and hockey, he did not make any mention of other sports which are in dire condition.

Though it was a press conference of the youth and sports ministry, state minister Biren Shikdar was absent. Former national footballers Jakaria Pintu, Kaisar Hamid, Jewel Rana and Iqbal Hossain were present at the podium as the deputy minister delivered his speech.

Joy said that they have expanded the BKSP by setting up two new branches and including five new disciplines while he also mentioned about the NSC's talent hunt programme at grassroots level apart from the renovation works at all district stadiums.