Two iPhones, including that of Bangladesh’s Spanish head coach Ana Alonso Fragua, went missing from a training session at Captain M Mansur Ali Stadium in Paltan on Saturday, in a suspected theft the day before the Begum Khaleda Zia IHF Nations Trophy.

Ana Alonso and local coach Dalia Akter were running the national women’s team’s training from 2pm, leaving their phones side by side on a table beside the court. Neither device was there when they were later looked for.

Dalia first noticed the loss at around 2.45pm, when she could not find her iPhone 17 Pro Max. A check then showed the second phone had gone from the same table, and when she rang her own number, it was switched off.

The loss hit the Spanish coach harder, as her credit card disappeared along with her phone. That was a double blow for a foreign member of the staff so close to a major event.

Federation officials have stepped up efforts to recover the phones and are going through CCTV footage from the stadium for clues on how they disappeared. The episode has created quiet tension in the handball community, and organisers are uneasy about the timing.

The four-nation Begum Khaleda Zia IHF Nations Trophy opens at the same venue on Sunday, October 18. The federation had been busy with final preparations, and some in the sport see the lapse as a blow to the image of the country’s sporting community.