Titu eyeing another title with age-group girls

Bangladesh team will leave for Kathmandu on Wednesday with a target of playing in the to play the final of the SAFF U-16 Women's Championship to be held in Nepal from March 1 to 10.

This is the first time the tournament, featuring India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, will take place for under-16 levels following previous four editions which were held for under-15 levels. Bangladesh had become champions in the inaugural edition in 2017 before settling for the second-best position three times in a row.

"The main challenge was to build a team chemistry in a short time as we could not focus on the under-16 team much due to the SAFF U-19 Women's Championship. We have only seven players, who have been in the BFF Academy for more or less two years while there are six BKSP players who have experience of playing in the Subrato Cup in India. The rest of the players have come from different districts," head coach Saiful Bari Titu said at a press conference at BFF yesterday.

"The girls have played a few practice matches among themselves. No doubt, there are talented players in the squad but the girls have to prove it by performing in a different environment," said Titu, who guided the U-19 women's team to joint championship with India at home earlier this month.

The former national coach believes the first match against Nepal will be very important to book a place in the final. The four teams will play each other once and the top two teams will play in the final on March 10.

"We don't have any alternative but to win the first match against Nepal if we want to play in the final. After the first match, we want to progress match by match and then try to become champions," said Titu, who felt that the altitude in Nepal could be a decisive factor.

Captain Arpita Biswas said, "We want to advance match by match and make it to the final. Our target is to play in the final."

BFF women's wing chairman Mahfuza Khatun and sponsor Dhaka Bank's deputy managing director Akhlaqur Rahman were, among others, present at the press conference.

Bangladesh's Fixtures:

March 2: Nepal vs Bangladesh

March 5: Bangladesh vs India

March 8: Bangladesh vs Bhutan

March 10: Final