Bangladesh’s hope of playing in the semifinal vanished into blue as their quarterfinal rival Egypt turned out to be superior team as the later dump host team by 5-1 goal margin in the tie held on Tuesday at Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium.
Bangladesh came in the match losing their top two players through injury. Captain Rasel Mahmud Jimmy and number one choice goalkeeper Asim Gope were not playing in the first eleven due to injuries.
Egypt were not all perturbed as the vociferous partisan fans who came in big number to support the home side. Like true professional outfits, Egypt shot into lead in the very fourth minute when Mahmoud Mamdouh converted the penalty corner into a goal (1-0)
They hardly waited to double their margin as in the 17th minute Sayed Amr silenced the crowd with his dazzling stick work as he slotted past Bangladesh goalkeeper Zahid to make it 2-0.
Bangladesh woke up from the slumber to reduced the margin, as Mainul Islam Kowshiq against the run of play scored a fine field goal(1-2).
However, Egypt came back smoking and meant business as they surge further ahead when Gamal Ahmed scored a superb field goal in the 30th minute of the proceedings (3-1).
Despite lots of pressure Egyptian forwards were kept at bay and were not allowed to increase the tally in the first two quarters.
In the third and fourth quarters, Sayed Amr notched his second as he slotted another eye catching field goal to the dismay of the local fans. (4-1.
Hassan Mohamed sealed the fate of the match as he slammed a brilliant goal to make it 5-1 for the visitors.
Earlier in the day, Malaysia, China, Oman joined Egypt for the semifinal places by winning their respective quarterfinals matches.
