Bangladesh hockey team secured a top-six finish after beating Kazakhstan 5-1 in the Hero Men’s Asia Cup 2025, held in Rajgir, India, Thursday.
The match took place at the Bihar Sports University Hockey Stadium. Bangladesh dominated their first match of the fifth-to-eighth-place deciders.
In the four-quarter match, Bangladesh scored all five goals within the first three quarters before Kazakhstan scored a consolation goal.
Penalty corner specialist Ashraful Islam put Bangladesh ahead in the 10th minute from a penalty corner. He doubled the lead in the 23rd minute with a penalty stroke.
Roman Sarkar added two more goals — a field goal in the 28th minute and a penalty corner strike in the 33rd. Just a minute later, Tayab Ali extended the lead with another field goal in the 34th.
Kazakhstan’s Altynbek Aitkalliyeb pulled one back four minutes later.
With this win, Bangladesh will face Japan in the fifth-place playoff match, scheduled for Sunday at the same venue.
Earlier, Bangladesh was eliminated from the title race after finishing third in Group B with three points. They lost 4-1 to Malaysia in their opening match, beat Chinese Taipei 8-3 in the second, and went down 5-1 against five-time champions South Korea in the final group game.