The Bangladesh national hockey team find themselves in an unenviable position. After setting a target of finishing in the top six in the Asia Cup Hockey before leaving Dhaka, the men in red and green are now just looking to avoid the wooden spoon when they take on Chinese Taipei today after being beaten by Japan 0-3 in Ipoh, Malaysia yesterday.
In the classification games yesterday, Japan defeated Bangladesh and Oman beat Chinese Taipei in a penalty shootout to fix the fifth to eighth places in the ninth Asia Cup hockey tournament.
Morally down and lacking confidence, Bangladesh were barely able to offer any resistance to Japan, who scored two goals in the first half. Toshiro Tachibana opened the scoring in the 9th minute and skipper Koji Kayukawa doubled the lead in the 26th minute. After the interval, Japan extended the lead to 3-0 when Tachibana netted his second goal of the day through a field effort in the dying moments of the match.
Bangladesh will lock horns with Chinese Taipei in an attempt to avoid last place, while Oman face Japan in the fifth-sixth place play-off match today. Bangladesh defeated Chinese Taipei 3-1 in the practice match on August 23.