KARACHI:The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has postponed Bangabandhu Men’s Junior Asia Cup Dhaka 2021, which was scheduled to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in January next year.
“We are all still going through difficult times of great uncertainty with the pandemic continuing to have a massive impact on daily life in many countries and restrictions on travel still persisting,” AHF said in a media release.
The Bangladesh Hockey Federation as the host of the event had discussions with its national government related to the ongoing unavailability of visas and strict quarantine requirements for persons entering the country. After that, BHF and AHF subsequently discussed the uncertainty around the ability to hold the Junior Asia Cup in an orderly, sensible and fair manner in January.
“Apart from the protection of players’, team staff and officials’ health and welfare being a priority, we also need to consider that the Junior Asia Cup is a top-level event, a Junior World Cup qualifier and a competition featuring athletes who are only one step from playing at the very highest level of our sport, so we must ensure appropriate conditions for the event and minimize the risk of qualified teams and athletes being unable to participate,” it added.
“Therefore, unfortunately, AHF has to communicate that we are forced to postpone the Men’s Junior Asia Cup a second time,” it said. The AHF will confirm new dates soon.