Dhaka- Bangladesh smartly finished 3rd in the eleven-nation qualifying round of the Youth Olympic Games Hockey [Asian Zone] beating world hockey giant South Korea by 5-4 goals in a 3rd place deciding match in Thailand on Sunday.India clinched the prestigious title beating Malaysia by 2-1 goals in penalty shootout as the final match between two teams was locked in 4-4 draw in the schedule time Sunday afternoon.
As the finalists of Asia – India and Malaysia – earned the right to play in the Youth Olympic Games Hockey to be played in Argentina in October 2018. In the day’s 3rd place decider, captain Shohanur Rahman Sabuj struck twice while Mohammad Mehedi, Sarwar Shawon and Mohammad Uddin scored one each for Bangladesh.
At one stage, Bangladesh were leading by 4-0 goals against their tough rivals, but Korea returned to the match scoring three consecutive goals (4-3).
Bangladesh again sounded their margin scoring one more goal (5-3) while Korea pulled the margin one back in the later part of the match to settle for 4-5 defeat.
Earlier on Saturday, Bangladesh got eliminated from the semifinal of the qualifying round to miss the Youth Olympics Games Hockey in Argentina in after losing to their giant neighbor India by2-9 goals.
Malaysia booked a berth for the final eliminating South Korea by 5-4 goals in penalty shootout as the 2nd semifinal match between two teams was locked in 4-4 goals in the stipulated period.
Earlier on Friday, Bangladesh smartly reached the semifinal of the meet eliminating another hockey giant Pakistan after making a 3-3 draw with them in their last pool B match.
Bangladesh brighten their chance for the semifinal crushing Chinese Taipei by 12-2 goals in another match of the day as Pakistan lost their match to Malaysia by 1-12 goals.
After the pool B matches, Bangladesh finished runners-up to reach semifinal toppling Pakistan securing 10 points from five matches with three wins, one draw and one defeat while Pakistan eliminated from the group stage with eight points. Bangladesh started their group campaign with 10-4 victory against Singapore and maintained their winning spree crushing Cambodia by 20-0 goals before conceded a 4-7 goal loss against Malaysia.UNB
