Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Holders Bangladesh reached the final of the 4th
Men’s AHF Cup Hockey eliminating islanders Sri Lanka by 5-3 goals in the 2nd semifinal in Bangkok on Monday.
Bangladesh will play the final on Tuesday against Oman, which booked a seat for the final eliminating Chinese Taipei by 2-1 goals in the first semifinal at the same venue.
As the finalists, both the teams have earned the right to play in the final round of the next year’s Asia Cup Hockey.
Bangladesh conceded a goal in the ninth minute of Monday’s match against Sri Lanka who had beaten Bangladesh once before in the 2006 SA Games. However, Bangladesh wasted little time to bounce back as defender Kamruzzaman Rana levelled the margin in the 11th minute before Mamunur Rahman Chayan converted a penalty corner in the 26th minute to give Bangladesh a 2-1 lead.
The islanders kept pressing for an equalizer and found the back of the net in the 34th minute to go to the break at 2-2.
Bangladesh took the lead again four minutes into the second half and this time to Chayan converted another penalty corner but Sri Lanka came pulled back a third goal in the 41st minute for an exciting finish.
But Krishna Kumar and skipper Rasel Mahmud Jimmy showed their superior stickwork to score two field goals in the 57th and 69th minutes to seal the final berth.
The semifinal was earlier locked in 2-2 goals in the first half.
Monday’s other classification matches, Uzbekistan beat Singapore by 3-2 goals while Hong Kong outplayed Thailand by 3-1 goals at the same venue.
BBN/SSR/AD-24Apr12-8:30 am (BST)
