Bangladesh to play Malaysia on Thursday

Bangladesh national hockey teamFile photo

Bangladesh to play stronger Malaysia in their 3rd and last Pool B match of the eight-nation Hero Men's Asia Cup Hockey' 2022 at the GBK Hockey Field in Jakarta on Thursday, reports UNB.

The match will start at 2.00pm local time and 1.00pm Bangladesh time.

In Thursday's other matches, South Korea will meet Oman at 11:45am (Pool B), Pakistan will face Japan at 4:15pm (Pool A) while holder India will play hosts Indonesia at 6:30pm (Pool A), all are local time.

Ahead of the big match against Malaysia, Bangladesh team made their practices in Jakarta Wednesday morning.

Bangladesh team, which was placed in four-team Pool B with Malaysia, South Korea and Oman, already assured the third place in the group with three points from two matches after beating their traditional rivals Oman by 2-1 goals last Tuesday.

On completion of two Pool B matches, Malaysia dominated the group with all-win record securing full six points, four times champions South Korea is in the 2nd position with three points while Oman remained at bottom without any point.

Pool A team comprises India, Japan, Pakistan and hosts Indonesia.

After two Pool A matches, Japan dominated the group with all win run securing full six points, Pakistan is in the 2nd position with four points, India is in the 3rd slot with one point while Indonesia remained at bottom with empty hand.

Bangladesh made a frustrating start in the ongoing Asia Cup Hockey '2022 after suffering 1-6 goal defeat against South Korea in their first match with captain Khorshedur Rahman scoring the lone goal for Bangladesh

In their 2-1 victory against Oman in the 2nd match, Ashraful Islam and Rakibul Hasan scored one each for Bangladesh to take revenge of their 2-6 defeat against Oman in the final match of the Asian Games Hockey qualifier in Bangkok recently.

Earlier in the remaining group matches, Malaysia outplayed Oman by 7-0 goals, Japan crushed hosts Indonesia 9-0, holders India played 1-1 with arch-rivals Pakistan, Pakistan crushed Indonesia 13-0, Malaysia beat Korea 5-4 while Japan shocked India by 5-2 goal.

South Korea clinched the Asia Cup title for a record four times while India and Pakistan followed them neck and neck by winning the title for three occasions each..

Ahead of the Hero Men's Asia Cup Hockey' 2022, Bangladesh played two preparatory matches in Jakarta.

Bangladesh suffered 1-5 goal defeat against holders India in their 2nd preparatory match after beating host Indonesia by 2-1 goal in the first match.

Bangladesh qualified for the eight-nation Hero Men’s Asia Cup Hockey main event by clinching the nine-nation Men's AHF Cup Hockey title for the fourth consecutive times with all-win record, also held in Jakarta last March.