Bangladesh edge past SL
Bangladesh edge past SL
Goalkeeper Ashim Gope thwarted a last-minute penalty stroke to help hosts Bangladesh post a hard-fought 3-2 win over Sri Lanka in the opening match of the World Hockey League (Round-1) at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Trailing by 2-3 margin, Sri Lanka led a spirited fight-back in the last ten minutes and earned a penalty corner with only 28 seconds to left to the final whistle. The Bangladesh defenders made heavy weather of the intense pressure and were forced to concede a penalty stroke. Ashim stepped up to block Lahiru Weerasooriya's stroke to earn Bangladesh a close win.
The goalkeeper from Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP) had also rescued Bangladesh from a similar situation against Sri Lanka during the semifinals of the Asian Games Qualifiers in April when he saved three penalty strokes to give Bangladesh 3-0 win after regulation time had ended 2-2.
“It is not possible to thwart a penalty stroke if a goalkeeper does not have the basic instincts and I was confident about saving the stroke,” said Ashim after the final whistle. “From the beginning, I was following his (Lahiru) footwork, the style of holding the stick. From my own assessment, I thought a player who generally takes the drag-flick shot, has a tendency to strike it with his all power on the left and thus I jumped to my right side to stop the stroke.”
Bangladesh, who have been preparing over the last three months for this tournament as well as the upcoming Asian Games, played comparatively better in the first half and took a deserved lead in the fourth minute when Hasan Jubair Niloy found the board with a gentle touch after Irfan Haque had struck a fierce diagonal shot from the left.
However, the lead lasted only nine minutes as Sri Lanka's Sadaruwan Riyalanka converted a penalty corner to level the margin. The Lankans came close to taking the lead in the 22nd minute, but Anju Hewage scuffed his shot wide on a one-on-one opportunity with Ashim.
Bangladesh restored the lead in the next minute when Krishna Kumar a penalty corner before Khorshedur Rahman converted another penalty corner to make it to 3-1 in the 27th minute. Krishna was denied by the woodwork one minute before the break.
After resumption, Bangladesh took a counter-attacking strategy which backfired and they were all over the place in the face of consistent attacks from Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka, though, failed to cash in on three scoring chances between the 50th and the 60th minute before pulling back the second goal in the 65th minute through Riyalanka, to give the hosts some nervy moments, only to be rescued by the eventual man-of-the-match Ashim.