Bangladesh go down fighting

A resolute Bangladesh surrendered an early lead to suffer a narrow 3-2 defeat to South Korea in their second match of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy at Maulana Bhashani Hockey Stadium yesterday.

It was the second defeat in as many matches in the hockey tournament for the men in red and green, who have not featured in international matches since the 2018 Asian Games. And despite being on the face of adversity, the hosts fought bravely against a strong Korean side, who came into the match following a 3-3 draw against Japan and a 2-2 draw India.

After a humiliating 9-0 thrashing at the hands of India in the first match, everyone expected a damage-control performance against South Korea, who had struck 23 goals in the last three meetings between two sides. However, the charges of Iman Gobinathan Krishnamurthy showed great strength in character to raise the hope of snatching a point but silly mistakes had cost them dearly.

Arshad Hossain gave Bangladesh an unexpected lead in the eighth minute, tapping in a fierce hit from Fazle Rabbi, before Korea levelled the margin in the 15th minute through a penalty stroke.

In the second and third quarters, Bangladesh hardly gave Korea space to unsettle the backline with debutant goalkeeper Biplob Khujur making a couple of good saves. Then the resistance finally broke down in the 47th minute with Ji Woo Cheon scoring a goal in the same manner like Arshad did earlier.

An unmarked Park Cheoleon made it 3-1 in the 54th minute with a fierce hit inside the circle before Deen Mohammad Emon reduced the margin two minutes from time but could not find the equaliser from then on.

"We have been viewed negatively after last match's performance, so we were determined to stick to the game plan for a better performance. The coach helped us mentally and showed how to play against Korea but we had to lose the match due to some silly mistakes," said goalkeeper Biplob, who was adjudged man-of-the-match.  

"It was my first international match for the senior team, so I tried to give something to the nation. The feeling is really good to be named the man of the match in the first international match" said the Abahani goalkeeper.

In the day's first match, hot-favourites India handed an emphatic 3-1 defeat to Pakistan at the same venue and kept their recent dominance intact over archrivals.

Defending champions India have not only consolidated their top position in the five-team table but also kept their unbeaten run against rivals Pakistan to 12 matches in a row, which includes only a draw, while Pakistan with one point from two matches, remained winless against their perennial rivals India for last five years since their 1-0 triumph in gold-deciding match of South Asian Games in 2016.

Even though the tie between India and Pakistan was deemed to be a mouth-watering battle, the high-voltage tie could hardly enthral a few hundred spectators who rather watched the erratic passing and poor finishing upfront from both sides but India had the last laugh, thanks to penalty corner conversions.

From the onset, India had been fast to take control of the match through their all-out attack alongside an early lead while Pakistan banked on the counter but their individual efforts and erratic passing kept them at bay.

India took a 2-0 lead within 42 minutes with strikes from Harmanpreet Singh and Akashdeep Singh before Junaid Manzoor reduced the margin in the 45th minute. Harmanpreet wrapped up the victory converting another penalty in the 53rd minute.