With his mouth wired up, and unable to talk, Asghar Ali bid farewell to his Hong Kong teammates yesterday as they left for Lanzhou for this weekend's Asian Games warm-up matches against China.
'Asghar couldn't talk. He could only manage to mutter something. But it was great of him to turn up and wish us all the best,' said Hong Kong team manager Billy Dillon yesterday.
Hong Kong, who will play two games against the Chinese national squad, will also be missing injured duo, fullback Farooq Saeed and midfielder Alfonso Cordeiro.
Hong Kong's top striker Asghar broke his jaw in two places last Sunday after being roughly tackled by Bullets defender Darshan Singh in a Premier League encounter. The injury has forced the Shaheen forward out of December's Asian Games in Doha.
League leaders Bullets face an anxious wait to find out what their fate will be as the Hong Kong Hockey Association's men's section committee will only meet on Tuesday to consider the umpires' report.
Their game against Valley tomorrow has been postponed.
