Bangladesh Navy emerged as the champions of the Victory Day Hockey Tournament 2018 after beating Bangladesh Army in a nail-biting final at the Maulana Bhashani Hockey Stadium Wednesday afternoon.
The star-studded Navy side comprising mostly of national players controlled the game from the beginning and took the lead in the seventh minute from the first penalty corner of the match.
Mamunur Rahman Chayan - who has retired from the national team after Asian Games 2018 - converted the penalty corner after receiving a pass from Rasel Mahmud Jimmy following Krishna Kumar’s push and Qamaruzzman Rana’s stop.
Md Naim Uddin’s penalty stroke cancelled out the lead in the 18th minute after Army’s first penalty corner ended in a foul. Rasel Mahmud Jimmy put Navy ahead again four minutes later, placing a Roman Sarkar’s pass from the circle into the open net.
In the third quarter, Jimmy scored once more in the 36th minute before Manoz Babu and Mahbubur Rahman netted one apiece for Army in the 41st and 44th minute respectively, to make things all square.
There was no less drama in the final quarter when Krishna put Navy ahead from a PC in the 52nd minute before Army’s Hasan Jubaer Niloy leveled the margin two minutes later. Mainul Islam Kaushik sealed the victory for Navy two minutes before the stipulated time.
Earlier, the two sides faced each other in the last match of the round-robin league where Army won the game in 4-3 in the penalty shootout.