Coming from behind, Rupayan City Cumilla earned a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Mettro Express Barisal in the first franchise-based Hockey Champions Trophy Bangladesh 2022 Thursday. At the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka, Fazle Mahmud Rabbi put Mettro Express ahead in the 16th minute from a penalty corner (1-0). Akhimullah Eshook doubled the margin in the 40th minute with a field goal (2-0). Rupayan City Cumillla made a comeback in the match when their Malaysia player Kim Sung Yeob scored three consecutive goals in only six minutes – 42nd, 44th and 46th minutes, all from penalty corners (3-2).

The first ever franchise-based Hockey Champions Trophy Bangladesh' 2022, organised by Bangladesh Hockey Federation, begins on Friday  at the Maulana Bhasani National Stadium here. Six franchise teams--Acme Chattogram, Mettro Express Barisal, Monarch Mart Padma, Rupayan Group Cumilla, Saif Powertec Khulna and Walton Dhaka--will compete in the inaugural meet . Acme Chattogram will play Saif Powertec Khulna in the inaugural match which will kick off at 6: pm while Rupayan City Cumilla will meet Shakib Al Hasan's Monarch Mart Padma in the other opening's day fixture at 8:15 pm at the same venue. On the following day (Saturday), Mettro Express Barisal will encounter Walton Dhaka while Monarch Mart Padma will play Acme Chattogram in the other match. On completion of the round robin league matches on November 12, top four teams of the league basis matches will play in the title deciding qualifier and eliminator on November 14 and 15. Top two teams of the league basis matches will play the qualifier and the winners will directly play in the final on November 17.  The 3rd and 4th team will meet each other in the eliminator and the winning team will play in the 2nd qualifier against losing team of the first qualifier, for the remaining final berth .The players draft of the first-ever franchise-based Hockey Champions Trophy Bangladesh'2022 ceremonially held on Monday (Oct 10) at the Samson H Chowdhury Center of Dhaka Club Limited here.  State Minister for Youth and Sports M Zahid Ahsan Russell MP attended the function. Among the 19 Icon players, Walton Dhaka picked up Ashraful Islam, Acme Chattogram Rezaul Karim, Mettro Express Barisal Roman Sarkar, Monarch Mart Padma Rasel Mahmud Jimmy, Rupayan Group Cumilla Sohanur Rahman Sabuj and Saif Powertec Khulna Biplob Kujur through lottery. All the six participating teams recruited some 17 local and foreign players in their line-up for the league through lottery.  Six local Icon players are expected to receive Taka five lakh each, Category A plus players will get Tk four lakh, category A players Tk three lakh, B category Tk two lakh and C category Tk one lakh each.   

Japanese Hockey team is the first foreign side to reach the capital on Wednesday (December 8)  night to participate in the six-nation Hero Asian Champions Trophy (Hockey) ‘2021 beginning on January 14 at the Maulana Bhashani National Stadium here. Six participating countries are: India, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh. The Korean team, which earlier scheduled to reach Dhaka Wednesday night, is expected to arrive in the capital Thursday night. India will be the 3rd foreign team to arrive here on Friday (Dec 10) at 12:30 hours by an Air India flight while Pakistan team scheduled to reach Dhaka at 16:40 hours on the same day (Friday). Malaysian team  will be the last foreign team to reach here on Sunday (Dec 12) at 22:00 hours by a Malindo Air flight. Read: Champions Hockey: 4 more players included in Bangladesh’s preliminary squad Meanwhile, the Japanese team made their first practice session here Thursday afternoon.  India will play Korea in the opening match at 3:30 pm on Jan 14. Bangladesh will play Malaysia at 6; pm while Pakistan will play Japan at 8:30 pm in other two opening day’s fixture. In the remaining matches, Bangladesh will play their giant neighbor Indian on Dec 15 at 3:30 pm, play Korea on Dec 17 at 8:30 pm, face Japan on Dec 18 at 6 pm and meet Pakistan on Dec 19 at 8:30 pm. The titan battle between two arch-rivals India and Pakistan will be held on Jan 17 at pm 3:30 pm. After a recess on Dec 20, the two semifinals and the 5th place deciding match will be held on Dec 21 and the final and the 3rd place deciding match will be held on December 22.    Earlier, Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) announced a 28-member preliminary squad of Bangladesh national hockey team for the heavy weight tournament and later they added four more players in the squad as per requirement of the team’s Malaysia Head Coach Gobinathan Krishnamurty. The training session of Bangladesh team began on December  1 at BKSP in Savar. Read: Premier Hockey: Mariner Youngs clinch title beating Mohammedan 3-2 The four newly recruited players are: Al Nahian Shuvo, Raju Ahmed Tapu, Abed Uddin and Razibul Hasan Rocky.    28-member Bangladesh squad: Biplob Kujur, Abu Sayed Nippon, Ashim Gop (goal keeper), Khorshedur Rahman, Farhad Ahmed, Ashraful Islam, Shohanaur Rahman Sabuj, Mehdi Hasam, Rezaul Karim Babu, Monoj Babu, Shafiul Alam Shisir, Sarwar Morshad Shawon and Khaled Mahmud Rakin (defender), Sarwar Hossain, Roman Sarkar, Nayeemuddin, Fazle Hossain Rabbi, Hasan Jubair Niloy, Prince Lal Samanta (mid-field), Rasel Mahmud Jummy, Milan Hossain, Mainul Islam Kaushik, Arshad Hossain, Mahbub Hossain, Deen Islam Emon, Rakibul Hasan, Pushkar Kisha Mimo and Rajub Das.