Singapore (1) vs Oman (6) POOL B
The first match of day 4 was played between Singapore (WR.50) and Oman (WR.26).
In the very initial minutes of the game, the first goal was scored by Ammaar Al Shaaibi from a penalty corner in the 4th minute of the game.
In the second quarter Oman came back with full energy and managed to score 3 goals in 6 minutes by Rashad Al Fazari, Fahad Al Lawati and again Ammaar Al Shaaibi.
Singapore tried to stop the “white machine”, defending as well as possible and taking advantage of every counter attack they had, but it seemed it was not enough.
In the 41st minute Ammaar Al Shaaibi scored a hat trick by converting a penalty corner that went straight and hard into the net.
In the 47th minute Dineshraj Naidu managed to deflect a ball from outside the circle into the net to score a goal for his team in the last quarter of the match.
With 4 minutes left in the game Aliyas Al-Noufali made it 6-1 after a penalty corner, deflecting the ball slowly but surely into the goal.
Oman is so far in 1st place in Pool B followed closely by Bangladesh who will play against each other on March 17.
On the other hand, Singapore is in the last place of Pool B with no matches left to play.
Iran (2) vs Bangladesh (6) POOL B
Three-time defending champions Bangladesh smartly reached the semifinal of the Men’s Asian Hockey Federation Cup 2022 from Pool B outplaying Iran by 6-2 goals in a rain-delayed match at the GBK Hockey Field in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Tuesday.
Bangladesh advanced to the semis as the first team with all win record securing full nine points from straight three matches, and will play upper ranked Oman on March 17 to decide the group champions.
In the day’s match, Bangladesh went down in the very 4th minute by a field goal, but the red and green team smartly returned to the game scoring five goals in a row, featuring hattrick by Ashraful Islam.
Later, Ashraful Islam was adjudged best player of the match.
Besides Khorshedur Rahman, Milon Hossain and Roman Sarkar scored the remaining goals for Bangladesh.
Earlier, Bangladesh was placed in five-team Pool B with Oman, Singapore, Iran and hosts Indonesia while four-team Pool A comprises Thailand, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
After playing each other once, the top two teams from each of the two pools will play in the semi-finals on March 19 before the final on March 20.
All the nine participating teams keep their bird eyes on one of a top three-place in the ongoing AHF Cup to join the final round of the next Men’s Asia Cup Hockey along with the five automatic qualifiers – India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Pakistan.
Kazakhstan (0) vs Sri Lanka (4) POOL A
In the Pool A match of the day, a promising match was played between the first and the second of Pool A.
Sri Lanka (WR.33) with 15 goals scored in this tournament so far was hoping to beat Kazakhstan (WR.49) to keep scoring goals and points to finish first in Pool A. Kazakhstan, on the other hand, was looking to keep their second place to stay on 2° place.
The first quarter was quite close, back and forth with both teams trying to take advantage of each other as soon as possible.
The first goal was slow in coming for the red and yellow, but in the last second of the game they got a penalty corner that allowed them to go to the break with a 1-0 lead with a goal by Ishanka Doranagala.
Kasakhstan had their chances, but could not take advantage of them, and managed to defend their goal well so that their rivals could not take advantage of them either. But it didn’t take long for Daammika Ranasingha to score in the 23rd minute from a penalty corner to secure the result for the team led by Madurange Don Abraham.
With 2 minutes left in the third quarter, a Kazakhstan defender committed a foul outside the circle and it was a penalty corner well taken by Suresh Rathnayake to make it 3-0.
In the 53rd minute again Daammika Ranasingha deflect a ball after a penalty corner play to make it 4-0.
Kazakhstan will play March 17 against the last place team in their group Uzbekistan with 0 points to secure their place in the semifinal.
Sri Lanka, already qualified to the semifinals, will rest to put up a fight on March 19 against the second-place team in Pool B.
