Dhaka – Favorite Malaysia, Egypt, China and Oman reached the semifinals of the eight-nation round-2 match of the Man’s Hockey World League eliminating their rivals in the quarterfinals at Moulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium here on Thursday. Tournament’s top seed Malaysia beat Sri Lanka by 5-2 goals, Egypt outplayed hosts Bangladesh by 5-1 goals, China crushed lowly Fiji by 17-0 goals while Oman defeated Ghana by 4-3 goals to book seat for the semifinals. UNB agencyThis was the 2nd consecutive defeat for Bangladesh against former African Games and African Cup for Nations champions Egypt after conceding 2-1 defeat in the Challenge Cup Hockey in Dhaka in 2001.In the semifinals on Saturday, Malaysia will play Egypt at 1:45 pm while China will face Oman at 4:pm at the same venue.In the 5th to 8th place deciding match, also on Saturday, Hosts Bangladesh will play Sri Lanka at 9:15 am while Ghana will encounter Fiji at 11;30 am at the same venue.In the day’s last quarterfinal, Egypt took too good against the hosts Bangladesh and took by 2-0 goals lead within 17 minutes due to over defensive strategy bu hosts and poor show of Bangladesh defenders and custodian Zahid Hossain.Mahmoud Mamdouh put Egypt ahead in the very 4th minute from a penalty corner (1-0) in the first quarter while Amr Sayed doubled the margin for Egypt by a field goal from goalmouth melee in the early 2nd quarter of 17th minute (2-0).Local forward Moinul Islam Kowshiq reduced the Bangladesh just few seconds later by a nice field goal from a vintage position in the 18th minute, off a ready right wing pass from his mate (2-1). Ahmed Gamal scored a field goal in the 30th minute to further widen the Egypt margin 3-1 while Amr Sayed scored his 2nd field and the 4th field goal for Egypt in the 49th minute (4-1)Mohammed Hassan sealed the fate of the scoring one more field goal in the 55th minute (5-1) with frustration of local fans. Bangladesh was outplayed in every department against their 12th step upper ranked Egypt in the match and failed utilize the chances came their way due to shakiness of their forwards. Earlier, Bangladesh finished 3rd in Pool A beating Fiji by 5-1 goals and conceded 2-3 goals defeat against Oman and 0-3 goals defeat against favorite Malaysia.Egypt emerged unbeaten Pool B runners-up beating Sri Lanka 6-2, China by 3-2 (2-2) goals and Ghana by 4-2 (1-1), both in penalty shootout.
