Terming Bangladesh's failure to qualify for the Asia Cup for the first time as a 'big blow' to the country's hockey , general secretary of Bangladesh Hockey Federation's (BHF) ad-hoc committee, Lt Col (retd) Riazul Hasan, has cited lack of finances as a cause for the team's disastrous performance in the ongoing AHF Cup.

Four-time defending champions Bangladesh lost to Oman 5-4 in the semifinals of Asia's second-tier competition on Friday, in the process missing out on a place in the upcoming eight-team Asia Cup – the first time Bangladesh will not be a part of the tournament in its 43-year history.

Mamunur Rashid's charges went to Jakarta with almost two month's training but did not get to play any practice matches. In fact the last time Bangladesh had played a competitive match was in the Asian Games in September-October of 2023.

Oman, on the other hand, have just played a tournament at home and practice matches in Pakistan in the build-up to the tournament.

The BHF general secretary said they need to move ahead with long-term plans and with support from all quarters, including the government and sponsors.

"We didn't have fund to arrange practice matches. We even had to borrow money for participating in this tournament," Riazul told The Daily Star.

"The other teams have improved a lot," the BHF GS said. "If we have to keep pace with them, our tactical and technical game sense will need to be increased a lot. And for that we need three-year or five-year plans and resources to implement those plans."

A former captain of the national team said he felt the players didn't play with freedom and spirit, which, according to him, Oman did.

"I felt Oman players were very spirited, and they played with a lot of spirit and enjoyed the game. On the other hand, our players looked like they lacked confidence. If you don't get to play competitive matches, how can you compete at his level?" the former captain said The Daily Star, requesting not to be named.

"I don't want to blame the players. We need to have the league first, without that how will players get match temperament? When we used to play, we had so much of hockey that we didn't have time to rest. We played in all over Europe. Now our players' only target is to graduate from BKSP and then get into a services team," the former player lamented.

The ad-hoc committee in hockey was formed five months ago following last August's political changeover, but the new committee has yet to start either the club cup or the premier league. All it has done so far is arrange a Victory Day competition for the senior men and a Women's Development Cup apart from sending men's and women's youth teams to Junior Asia Cup events. But there has been no serious competitive hockey for the senior players for the last one year. BHF GS Riazul, though, could not offer much optimism in regards to starting the league or the club cup.

"Our biggest challenge now is organising the league. We have asked the clubs so far indirectly to play in the league. Now we will tell them directly. Unfortunately none of the clubs have come forward and told us to arrange the league," Riazul claimed.