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Asian under-16 soccer qualifying round begins

Bangladesh swamp Maldives 4-0

A Correspondent
RAJSHAHL May 3
The maiden experience of boating an
sport* meet did
not turn Into nightmare* for thia northern dtvtalonal headquarter* and It* enthu*l aattc people aa hoata Bangladesh crushed minnows Maldives 4-0 in the Inaugural match of the fifth Asian youth under-16 Group Three Qualify Ing round to give a rolltektng start to the tournament at the local stadium here today.
Playing before a 15.000 strong crowd and many more on the adjacent roof tops because of want of room Inside the recently renovated ground, the Bangladesh team ran all over their weaker opponent* to take an unassailable 4-0 lead tn the first half with midfielder Jahangir Hoaaaln scoring two to the goals
With the much feared heat of Rajshahl kept at bay for once by a benign cloud cover and a cool, refreshing breeze. the Bangladeshi boy* drew the first blood pretty early when leftwinger Hiru waated a chance by shooting wide after having gained possession of the ball inside the box
Bangladesh forced their ftr*t corner In the third minute of play but Hiru again missed the mark a* his header sailed over the bar, letting out a collective ’ his* of disappointment from the full house crowd
Two more chances were missed in quick succession and Jahangir had the ball In the net tn the seventh minute
but the Thal referee ruled II out for an off-side. Mozammel Huq Chowdhury. the Bangladesh striker, prolonged the tale of misses when he tailed to halt the duel* in the ninth minute with Hossain Habib, the Maldives goalkeeper. al his mercy.
The battered Maldives de fence gave In after repeated sortie* In the 17th minute when defender Blplab Marma the stepper back who plays for Victoria in the Dhaka league, nodded the ball home from a flag kick from the left taken by the skilful Arman (1-0).
There was no let up tn pressure as the Bangladesh boys went the whole hog to consolidate their position against the visibly weakest team of the five team compfe tion. Medio Jahangir, a promising player who play* regularly for Agrani Bank in the Dhaka First Division league, raced down the flank in the 27th minute and beat the Maldives keeper with a fierce shot after being freed by a fine fob from Hiru (2-0).
Mohammed Arif of Maldives missed a golden chance, somewhat against the run of play, five minutes later when he dodged past a couple of Bangladeshi player* but failed to finish off os he shot over tn haste
Mozammel Huq Chowdhury made It 3-0 fn the 36th minute and Jahangir Hossain doubled his haul to complete the rout two minutes later(4 0).
Bangladesh maintained the same vein In the post-lemon
session but poor marksman ship originating from compla cence perhaps stopped them from Increasing the margin Jahangir Hossain missed s fine opportunity of notching up the first hattrick of the tourna ment at the fag end of the match when he evaded the charging opponent goalkeeper but hi* goal-bound push was deflected away to safety by a Maldives defender.
Bangladesh coach Hassanuzzaman Khan Babiu, a
too happy over the perfor mancc of hia boys. He told quering newsmen after the match that his players missed a dozen chances and he would have liked them to translate the territorial dominance into goals to emerge with a health ler score line.
Maldives coach Moussa Manik was anything but amused over the result. While lauding the performance of the host team, he also said that the average age of the Bangladesh players was more than that of his players
State Minister for Youth and Sports Sadcq Hossain Khoka officially inaugurated the ten-day tournament comprising hosts Bangladesh. Nepal. Maldives. India and Pakistan The opening ceremony was at tended, among others, by Barrister Aminul Huq. State Minister for Law and Justice, president of the Bangladesh Football Federation Stddlqur Rahman, Mayor of Rajshahl Mizanur Rahman Minu and Zafar Imam, the general seerv tary of Rajshahi District Association and secretary of
the organising committee.
The opening ceremony was marked by a march past and a tar pfoy dtsptey by the mem ber* of the Rover Scouts. Multi coloured balloon* were released to add to the colour of the biggest ever sporting event to take place in Rajshahl
Only 10.500 ticket* were sold although the stadium with a capacity of 16000 spectators was packed like sardines and some of the more enthusiastic spectators were seen inflitrat Ing into the ground to the right of the press box
Complaint* were aired with regard to the distribution of the VIP card* as non VIP’s nearly outnumbered the VIPs, much to the embarrassment of the or^nlaer*.
TEAMS
Bangladesh : Nasirul Huq. Emdad. Blplob Marma. UJJal. Ruhul Amin. Zahidul tojsm (Alauddin). Arman, PofWosh Dewan. Jahangir Hossain. Mozammel Huq Choardhury (Moniruzzaman), and Hiru.
THE MALDIVES; Hossain Habib. Sameer. Marujya. Ibrahim. M Arif. Hossain Zaycd. Ismail Sharif. Zahir Ismail. Falih, Syeed. Adnan Habib and Ahmed Ah.
Referee — Srl Somporn (Thailand)
Linesmen — Srl Boonchartf Thailand)
and
Md. Mohsin Ariff (Shri Lanka)
TODAY'S MATCH
India vs Nepal (4.30 pm)