Bangladesh emerged the champions of the Group B of the Islami Bank Asian Games Hockey Qualifiers when they came from behind and defeated Iran by 3-1 goals in the last match of the Group B at the Moulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium on Thursday.
Bangladesh secured maximum nine points from three matches and will play against Sri Lanka in the semifinal tomorrow (Saturday).
Iran piled up pressure from the very beginning and earned three penalty corners within six minutes, however they failed to convert those.
Bangladesh hit back in the 11th minute but Iranian goalie Chanazanisharah denied Bangladesh forward Pushkor Khisha Mimo with a super save.
Iran took the lead in the 26th minute as Abbasi Reza’a fierce hit from the left flank was padded off by Bangladesh goalie Ashim Gope but unmarked Taheridad Navid pushed the rebound into the post (1-0).
Iran again earned three consecutive penalty corners after the resumption but could not pull out any results.
Bangladesh equalized in the 55th minute off their seventh penalty corner. Puskor Khisha Mimo’s push was stopped by Sarwar Hossain and Mamunur Rahman Chayan dragged the ball into the post (1-1).
Bangladesh went up in the 57th minute after midfielder Romman Sarker ran down the left flank and cut the ball to Puskor Khisha Mimo who coolly placed the ball into the net with a soft push (2-1).
Sheikh Md. Nannu sealed the fate of the match with a superb reverse hit in the 70th minute after Puskor Khisha Mimo paved the way for him with a neat angular pass from the midfield (3-1).
Iran who earned three points will play Qatar in the 5th-6th position qualifiers on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Singapore crushed Hong Kong China by 6-1 goals in the group B match at the same venue on the same day.
Singapore took the lead in the 8th minute with a field goal by Abdul Wahab M Fauzi and in the 12th minute Noor Shah Silas Abdul doubled the lead with another field goal.
Arif Ali of Hong Kong reduced the margin using a penalty corner in the 14th minute of the match.
Zul Kepil Nur of Singapore increased the tally into 4-1 by a field goal.
After the intermission Alias Muhammad Ashraf scored the 4th goal in the 41st minute with a reverse push and in the 44th minute Yuhari Mohammed Sabri dragged a penalty corner to score the fifth goal of Singapore.
In the 54th minute Salim Muhammad Haseef netted the sixth off another penalty corner.
Singapore completed their group matches with six points from three matches while Hong Kong China failed to open their account in the three group matches.
