DAY 4
SRI LANKA (1 – 3) BANGLADESH
Bangladesh team qualified for the Asian Games Hockey, 2022 beating Sri Lanka by 3-1 goal in their 2nd Pool B match of the nine-nation Men´s Asian Games Hockey Qualifier at Queen Sirkit Commemorative Stadium in Pathumthani of Thai capital Bangkok on Tuesday.
With the day´s feat, Bangladesh team not only confirmed their berth in the Asian Games Hockey but also reached the semifinal of the Men´s Asian Games Field Hockey qualifier with one match to spare against lowly Singapore.
By virtue of the 2nd successive victory, the men in red and green Bangladesh comfortably took a solo lead in the Pool B of the qualifying round with all-win record securing full six points from straight two matches.
Bangladesh team, wich was placed in four-team Pool B of the Asian Games Qualifier with Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Singapore, will play lowly Singapore on May 12 in their remaining group match.
In the day´s match, Ashraful Islam put Bangladesh ahead in the 3rd minute of the 2nd quarter by a penalty corner after goalless in first querater (1-0).
Bangladesh sounded their margin in the 8th minute of the same quarter from a penalty stroke.
Sri Lanka pulled the margin one back in the last minute of the 3rd quarter after spoiling five consecutive penalty conrers (2-1).
Roman Sarkar sealed the fate of the match scoring the 3rd goal for Bangladesh in the 8th minute of the 4th and final quarter.
Bangladesh will face Singapore May 12 and Sri Lanka will face Indonesia the same day to define positions in Pool B.
The player of the match was Rajitha Kulathunga from Sri Lanka, excellent performance from him in this competition.
KAZAKHASTAN (0 – 2) HONG KONG CHINA
The second match of the day featured Kazakhstan and Hong Kong China, 3rd and 4th in Pool A respectively. Far from qualifying, HKC took the victory. The first victory for the team led by Kulwant Dillon in this qualifier.
Kazakhstan on the other hand did not achieve any victory in this tournament and ends its participation in this qualifier.
While the match was evenly matched, with the yellows having plenty of possession in the first quarters of the game, there was no goal action until the 37th minute when Farman Ali found the ball with no one around to send the ball into the net like a rocket and put his team on top of the scoreboard.
Kazakhstan had its chances, but failed to take advantage of them, and the team in red was able to channel its defense very well against the opponent. In this way and with this strategy, they managed to impose themselves on the result to finish it 1 minute after the first goal. Windfall Monthong oversaw putting the ball in the goal, after it was hovering around the area, who with a not so perfect shot managed to get it into Kazakhstan’s goal almost asking for permission.
Although the yellow team had several chances and enough possession of the ball, but they were unable to make a difference and ended their participation with this defeat.
The best player of the match was Farman Ali who scored the first goal of the match and put his team in the lead that would later win the match.
Hong Kong China will have to beat Thailand to fight for a qualification place in Pool A.
Kazakhstan say goodbye to the Asian Games Qualifier.
THAILAND (0 – 1) OMAN
In the third and last match of day 4, Thailand and Oman (already qualified for the Asian Games 2022 with 9 points in Pool A) faced each other. Oman with an outstanding performance in this qualifier played 3 matches of which they won all three, with 9 goals scored and only 1 conceded.
This match was no exception, and they started the first quarter showing their class, against a Thailand trying to score to try to qualify.
Oman WR: 25 and Thailand WR: 36 being local and having an exponential growth in their field hockey and in the facilities to develop this sport, faced each other in a very even match of two teams that wanted to win and be at the top of Pool A.
Oman with its good streak managed to penetrate each of the spaces that the yellow team left free. On their side, the team led by Kyung Soo Kim lined up with a strong defensive block to not allow the team led by Salah Al-Saadi to enter the circle.
Both had many chances to score, with several very unbalanced players that allowed them to break through and generate chances, but it was 5 minutes before the end of the match when Ahmed Al Balushi found the ball on the goal line to simply push it in, after an extraordinary collective play with many passes that allowed the chosen player of the match Rashad Al Fazari to make a shot with an impossible angle that allowed his teammate to place the ball inside Thailand’s goal.
Thus ended the match, where Oman qualified and will play against Uzbekistan on May 12. While Thailand will play against Hong Kong China to fight for a place in the final zone.
