Around 700 players from 45 countries across the globe including defending champions India will be seen vying for the top honours at the 4th Rollball World Cup to be held from February 17 to 23rd in Dhaka.
"This (World Cup) is the largest ever event in any field where such a huge number of countries will be participating in an Asian Country," said Manoj Yadav, Co-ordinator of International Rollball Federation.
A former Ranji player Yadav, who returned from Bangladesh on Sunday after overseeing the ongoing preparation of the WC, told PTI that "45 countries from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America have already given their consent to participate in the week-long biennial mega sport event."
Expressing satisfaction over the preparation of the World Cup, Yadav said the event will be inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while President of the country Md Abdul Hamid will be chief guest on the concluding day function.
Bangladesh have invested over Rs 50 crore to set up an exclusive Rollball stadium for the event. Three-tier security arrangement is also being provided to the visitors, he said.
Hailing the largest ever participation in any Asian country, Yadav, an executive committee member of the Asian Roll Ball Federation, regretted that the 13-year-old Rollball game, which has its origin in Pune, did not get any support from the government and pleaded with the Jharkhand government to host at least an Asian Championship in the state.
Among the countries who have given their consent for the World Cup are France, England, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Egypt, Iran, Denmark, Belarus, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Jambia, UAE, Netherlands, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and hosts Bangladesh, Yadav added.
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