Bangladesh clinched the Hockey World League Round 1 campaign and qualified for Round 2 with a 3-1 victory over Hong Kong in their last game of the meet at the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.
This is the second consecutive time that Bangladesh have reached the second round as group champions in a tournament which was recently designed by the Federation of International Hockey to add more glamour to the game.
Forward Hasan Zubair Niloy slammed a hattrick, however, according to Bangladesh’s high standards the performance was not an impressive one. Bangladesh did not dominate proceedings and the level of penetration was not satisfactory. It took nearly half an hour to broke the deadlock against a team like Hong Kong, who are far behind Bangladesh in the official rankings.
Bangladesh went ahead in the 27th minute after a combined attack. Forward Pushkor Khisa Mimo ran down the left and hit a reverse shot which was intercepted by his attacking partner Niloy, who sent the ball into the post with a reverse push.
Niloy doubled the lead in the 45th minute after skipper Mamunur Rahman Chayan’s fierce hit off a penalty corner was glided home with another reverse hit.
Hong Kong won a penalty in the 51st minute as Chayan stopped Chan Ka Chun illegally inside the arc. Chan Ka Ho converted from the spot to make it 2-1. Asim Gope, the Bangladesh goalkeeper who saved a penalty against Sri Lanka in the previous match, had no chance of repeating that performance this time around.
Niloy though ensured the tie for Bangladesh when he completed his hattrick in the 53rd minute. Snatching the ball from an opponent defender, Niloy beat Hong Kong goalie Andrew Hayward with another reverse hit.
Bangladesh earlier defeated Sri Lanka 3-2 in a narrow victory while the Lankans beat Hong Kong 6-1 in the second match of the first round.
Round 2 of the Hockey World League will be held in Singapore from January 17-25.