Jibon ready for rehab

Following knee surgery in Kolkata on April 17, national football team striker Nabib Newaj Jibon is counting the days ahead of his return to Dhaka to fully start his rehabilitation process.

The Abahani striker has been in 14-day quarantine at a Benapole hotel after arriving at the Benapole port on Monday evening with special permission from the foreign affairs ministry as he feared being confined to India due to travel restrictions.

"It is a feel-good factor to return home, but I feel loneliness at the hotel like I felt in the hotel in India. I also feel some pain in my leg," Jibon told The Daily Star. "If there are no symptoms of Covid-19 in the first three days of quarantine, I will start the journey for Dhaka after getting the permission from the authorities concerned. I have been asked to follow some exercises for full rehabilitation."

Jibon was ruled out of the rest of the season for Abahani and the national football team, but Abahani manager Satyajit Das Rupu believes Jibon can return to the field in the latter part of season.

"He was under a doctor's supervision for more than one week in India after successful surgery. His overall condition is good and I believe he can return to the ground and practice with the ball within two-and-a-half months. But everything depends on him of how he is doing his rehabilitation," said the former national footballer.

"We want Jibon to stay at the club like Saad Uddin did during his rehabilitation process because he will be inspired to follow every process to be cured while staying at the club and club physios will also have chances to look after Jibon," said Rupu.

Jibon, who originally suffered an injury to his right knee during a match against Nepal in November last year, played in the Federation Cup and one match of Bangladesh Premier League match before sustaining further injury in a club practice session.