The Bangladesh women’s tennis team was due to leave Dhaka for Malaysia on Sunday midnight to participate in the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group-2.

The eight-team tournament will kick-off today and end on June 23. The participating teams are: Malaysia, Hong Kong,  Uzbekistan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Bangladesh. The teams will play in two groups in round robin league format and ultimately the champion will be promoted to Group-I.

A six-member team from Bangladesh including four players will represent the country to make a history as it will be the first time that Bangladesh will compete in the Fed Cup (team event for female players).

The executives of Bangladesh Tennis Federation (BTF), the parent organisation of tennis, stated this at a press conference at AIUB auditorium in the capital yesterday. Ishita Afroz, Zerin Sultana Joly, Masfia Arefin and Susmita Sen are the four players who are going to add a new feather to their hats. Disha Islam, a former player, will act as manager while Shibu Lal, former Bangladesh champion who now lives in USA, will be the non-playing captain. Shibu has already flown to Kuala Lumpur to join the team.

Niaz Ahmed, vice president of BTF, in his speech expressed his gratitude to American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) for becoming official sponsor of the team. “I can tell you that the vice chancellor of the university is a keen lover of sports and from that point of view she accepted our proposal.” said Niaz once a leading national team player of Bangladesh. Replying to a question he ruled out the possibility of making debut in Hopman Cup (mixed tem event) as there are only a few female players who can form a mixed doubles team.

Carmen Z Lamagna, vice-chancellor of AIUB,  assured the BTF to continue its partnership with tennis in future. “It’s my pleasure to involve with Bangladesh women’s tennis team. I’ll always keep my door open for the players to come to campus and avail the training facilities here,” she announced that her university will offer scholarship to tennis players in future as she did it in other sports and games.

“I’m proud to announce that six players of Bangladesh World Cup cricket  team including Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad are the students of the university. Similarly we have produced players for other sports disciplines at national level.”

The vice-chancellor inspired the Bangladesh players with her encouraging words. “You are young girls and have little exposure of international game that doesn’t matter. You should keep in mind that you’re representing a nation of 16 crore people and they are behind you. Just try to play your normal game and play without any pressure. I’m also with you and wish you good luck.”

All four members spoke on the occasion and sought blessing for them. They narrated their playing experience in brief and requested the BTF bosses to arrange them more international tournaments for them at  home and abroad.