Malaysia champions, Bangladesh fifth

Favourites Malaysia clinched the title of the Hockey World League Round-2 with a 5-3 win over China in penalty shootout after the regulation time of the final ended in a 2-2 draw at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Meanwhile hosts Bangladesh finished fifth after handing Ghana a 4-3 defeat in shootout while Egypt became third with a comprehensive 5-1 win over Oman. Sri Lanka finished seventh by beating Fiji 5-3 in a place-deciding match.

Malaysia, ranked 13th in the world, staged a strong comeback against the 18th ranked China after going two goals down in the first half.  China took a two-goal lead against the run of play, thanks to strikes from Du Talake and Su Jan but a youthful Malaysia pressed hard to convert two penalty corners after having wasted 10. Saabah Shahril and Jazlan Najmi converted the 11th and 12th penalty corners to push the match into a shootout where Malaysian goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman thwarted Meng Dihao in the fourth shot before Saari Fitri converted the fifth for Malaysia to clinch the title.

Like Malaysia, 32nd ranked Bangladesh had to sweat against 38th ranked Ghana despite taking a 2-1 lead at one stage. Mamunur Rahman Chayan cancelled out Botsio Johnny's lead before putting Bangladesh ahead by converting the second penalty corner, but Ghana staged a strong comeback by scoring two goals to make the margin 3-2.

Bangladesh captain Rasel Mahmud Jimmy then converted a penalty corner on the stroke of the final whistle to take the match into tiebreakers. The first five shoots ended 3-3 and Krishna Kumar Das converted the first shot of sudden death to confirm Bangladesh's fifth position finish after Ghana's Acheampong Eugene failed to beat Bangladesh goalkeeper Zahid Hossain.

Although Bangladesh finished fifth, there was a disappointment for the national team as midfielder Sarwar Hossain was handed a three-match ban for hitting a Ghana player in an off-the-ball incident. 

“I cannot be happy with the match today because of too many easy mistakes. However, I want to give my team credit for the fighting spirit they showed in the last five minutes,” Bangladesh coach Oliver Kurtz said.

“For the next six months, we want to prepare the team for the Asia Cup. We hope to have a strong preparation camp outside the country with hard matches. That is the key. This is what we are missing. I will meet the president and hopefully fix the program for preparation of Asia Cup,” Kurtz said.