BD fail to retain title
Bangladesh failed to defend their Asian Games Qualifiers title with a 2-0 defeat against hosts Oman at the Sultan Qaboos Complex in Muscat yesterday.
Bangladesh, who came into the tournament as the defending champions and qualified for the Asian Games after making the semifinals, were up against a much stronger side who had beaten them quite a few times in recent past.
A 28th-minute penalty corner converted by Al Fazari Rashad and a penalty stroke dispatched by Rajab Basim Khatar three minutes later settled the final in favour of the hosts, who are two places above Bangladesh, according to the latest FIH rankings.
While Mahbub Harun's men had beaten Oman 6-1 in the previous edition of qualifiers four years ago, this time they were up against a much stronger Oman side.
Bangladesh had moved into the semifinals on the back of three convincing victories, but they had to come from behind twice to beat Sri Lanka 3-2 in the semifinals. On the other hand, Oman brushed aside Thailand 8-0 in the semifinals after three comfortable wins in group stages.
The match started in a cagey fashion as neither side managed to assert their control over the game and the first quarter ended goalless. The second quarter seemed headed for the same direction before the hosts made perfect use of one of the penalty corners, with Rashad beating Bangladesh's first-choice keeper Asim Gope.
The hosts did not give the men in red and green any time to regroup and recover from the shock as they earned a penalty stroke two minutes after the restart. Basim Khatar made no mistake from the spot to give his side stranglehold on the game.
Bangladesh coach Harun made a string of substitutions thereafter, including replacing Gope with Abu Sayeed Nippon, but while they did not concede any further goals, they could not mount a fightback either.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka beat Thailand 4-1 to secure the third position.
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