Youth hockey returns after five years

The Arafah Islami Bank 27th National Youth Hockey Championship gets underway tomorrow at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium, bringing back the youth competition to the hockey turf following a five-year gap.

Some 57 teams including four education boards and Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan (BKSP), split into nine zones, will play in the zonal matches and the top two teams from each group will qualify for the 18-team final round, which is expected to be held in the latter part of November.

BKSP and Dhaka Education Board were the champions and runners-up of the last edition, which was held in 2017. Al Arafah Bank is providing Tk 1.5 crore for the championship.

The matches of other zones – Mymensingh, Narail, Faridpur, Khulna, Cumilla, Chattogram, Dinajpur and Joypurhat – will get underway gradually and will be completed before October 18.

Bangladesh Hockey Federation's acting general secretary Mohammad Yousuf informed that they have planned to pick 100 players from the tournament for a long-term training and overseas training while the players will take part in December's BKSP Cup international hockey, where five foreign teams are expected to take part.