The Bangladesh hockey team finished fifth in the Men’s Asian Games Qualifier 2026 after beating Chinese Taipei 3-2 in a closely fought 5th/6th place decider at the Royal Thai Air Force Hockey Field in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.
Ashraful Islam scored two goals from penalty corners for the winning side, while Mehrab Hasan Samin added the other to seal the victory.
It was Bangladesh who took the lead through Ashraful from their very first penalty corner in the seventh minute before Wei Cheng-Ze equalized in the 11th minute.
Ashraful struck again in the 17th minute, as Lo Hao-Kai made things all square in the 34th minute. Samin netted the winner in the 37th minute.
Bangladesh showed resilience in defending Chinese Taipei’s eight penalty corners.
The two sides also faced each other in the opening Pool B fixture, where Bangladesh left the pitch victorious with a 4-3 margin. Bangladesh then suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to Sri Lanka before playing out a 1-1 draw against Uzbekistan in their final group fixture.
Bangladesh sealed their Asian Games qualification with a win over Hong Kong, China in a shootout in their previous fixture — a 5th-8th place classification match.