Bangladesh clinch sixth spot in Asia Cup Hockey

Bangladesh on Thursday reached at least to the 6th slot in the ongoing eight-nation Hero 10th Men's Asia Cup Hockey, upsetting upper ranked China by 4-3 goals in penalty shootout, reports UNB.

The battle between the two teams rolled to penalty shootout as the place-deciding match at the floodlit of Maulana Bhashani National Stadium was locked in 3-3 goals during the stipulated 60 minutes.

This is the first victory for Bangladesh in their 4th match of the ongoing  tournament after suffering three defeats in a row -- 0-7 defeat against Pakistan, 0-7 loss against India and 1-3 defeat over Japan in pool matches.

In the penalty shootout, Farhad Shetul, Naimuddin, Pushkar Khisa Mimo and Captain Rasel Mahmud Jimmy scored one each for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh will now play Japan in the 5th place deciding match on Friday at 5:30pm while China will play against Oman in the 7th place deciding match at 3:00pm at the same venue.

Earlier in the scheduled time, Talake DU scored two goals for China in a span of few seconds in the 7th minute (2-0) while Ashraful Islam reduced the margin for Bangladesh converting a penalty stroke in the 25th minute (2-1).

Talake DU scored his and the 3rd goal for China in the 28th minute by his favourite penalty corner to dominate the first half by 3-1 goals.

In the 4th and last quartet, Milon Hossain and Khorshedur Rahman added two more goals in the 53 and 54th minute from penalty corners to level the match (3-3).