Two services teams — Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Navy — reached the final of the 31st ATN Bangla National Hockey Gold Cup Tournament’ 2017 eliminating their rivals in the semifinals at Maulana Bhashani National Stadium here on Wednesday.
The two teams will play the final on Thursday at 3:15 pm while two losing semifinalists will meet each other in the 3rd place-deciding match on the same day at 11 am.
In the day’s first semifinal, Bangladesh Army outplayed Dhaka District by 4-0 goals after dominating the first half by 2-0 goals.
National coloured player Pishkar Khisa Mimo put the Army men ahead in the 13th minute while Shafiqul Islam scored the 2nd goal in the 23rd minute (3-0).
Manoj Babu scored the 3rd goal in the 45th minute while Shafiqul Islam sealed the fate of the match scoring his 2nd and the 4th goal for Army in the 64th minute (4-0).
In the other semifinal, coming from behind, national star-studded Bangladesh Navy managed a hard-fought 4-3 goals victory over Dhaka Education Board at the same venue.
Promod Dewan scored first for Dhaka Board in the 8th minute from a penalty corner while Shawon Sheikh doubled the margin in the 22nd minute (2-0).
National forward Rasel Mahmud Jimi guided the sailors’ team to return in the match scoring a goal in the 25th minute while Moinul Islam Kaushik leveled the margin for Navy in the 46th minute (2-2).
Jimi put the Navy team ahead from behind scoring his 2nd goal in the 48th minute while Rimon Kumar scored the 4th goal for Navy in the 60th minute (4-2).
Prince Lal Samanta reduced the margin for Dhaka Board scoring the 3rd goal for Dhaka Board in the 67th minute (4-3).
