Youth Olympic Hockey Qualifiers: Bangladesh miss out on final round

Bangladesh failed to qualify for the final round of the Youth Olympic Hockey after losing to favourite India 9-2 in the Qualifiers semi-final in Bangkok, Thailand Saturday. Bangladesh youth advanced to the last four after finishing as the runners-up side of Group B, behind Malaysia, and would have progressed to the final round, scheduled to be hosted by Buenos Aires in October this year, had they beaten India. However, it is India who confirmed their berth in the final round, alongside Malaysia, who beat South Korea 5-4 in the tie-breaker in the other semi-final after it ended 4-4 following the end of regulation time. The youngsters in red and green will now face South Korea in the third place decider Sunday at 2pm at the same venue while India will take on Malaysia in the grand finale two hours later. India went 2-0 ahead in the first half after Shivam Anand scored in the fifth and eighth minute. Anand completed his hat-trick in the second half before Bangladesh conceded a whopping five goals between the minutes 22 and 24, with two of them being own goals. Sohanur Rahman Sabuj netted the two goals for Bangladesh.Bangladesh had earlier qualified for the last four after drawing 3-3 with Pakistan and thrashing Chinese Taipei 12-2 Friday. The Bangladesh youth began their campaign with a 10-4 win over Singapore Wednesday. A day later, the youngsters in red and green thumped Cambodia 20-0 before losing to Malaysia 7-4. The nine-member Bangladesh team left Dhaka for Thailand Tuesday. The tournament is being held in accordance with the five-a-side format. All the nine players are students of BKSP, among which six participated at the recently concluded Club Cup Tournament. Sabuj, Mohammad Mohsin and Mohammad Mehedi played for Abahani Limited, Shishir and Sarwar Shaon represented Mariner Youngs Club while Rokibul Hasan featured for Victoria Sporting Club. It should be mentioned that Bangladesh had qualified for the final round of the Nanjing Youth Olympics four years ago in China.