Bangladesh began their Women’s Asian Games hockey qualifiers campaign with a thrilling 5–5 draw against Chinese Taipei at the GBK Hockey Field in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday.
Skipper Arpita Pal led from the front, scoring a hat-trick for the women in red and green and earning the player of the match award.
This marked the Bangladesh women’s hockey team’s first senior international assignment. Most of the players previously represented the country at the under-21 level. Arpita, who also captained the U-21 side, carried her impressive form into the senior team.
Regular youth scorer Airin Riya gave Bangladesh the lead in the 8th minute from a penalty corner, but Yi-Chun Zhu equalised just a minute later.
Arpita then struck twice in the 10th and 17th minutes — first converting a penalty corner and then scoring from a penalty stroke.
Chinese Taipei responded strongly, netting four goals to seize control of the match. Pei-Shan Liao converted a penalty stroke in the 23rd minute, followed by Hui-Yun Fan’s field goal in the 29th. Yu-Ting Huang added two more goals in the 34th (penalty corner) and 36th minutes.
Kona Akter pulled one back for Bangladesh in the 40th minute before Arpita sealed the equaliser from another penalty corner four minutes later.
Placed in Group A, Bangladesh will face Uzbekistan in their second match on Friday. Uzbekistan opened their campaign with a 4–0 win over Hong Kong on Thursday.
Arpita and her teammates will conclude their group-stage fixtures against Hong Kong on April 26.
The top four teams from the qualifiers will advance to the final round of the Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Japan in September.
