Bangladesh clinched their first victory in the 20th Asian Games men’s hockey competition, beating Sri Lanka 5-1 in their Pool A encounter at Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Nagoya, Japan on Thursday.
Amirul Islam and Ashraful Islam scored two goals each, while Mahbub Hossain added the other for the red and green brigade.
Bangladesh dominated from the outset and took the lead in the eighth minute when Amirul converted a penalty corner.
They doubled their advantage in the 16th minute through another penalty corner, with Ashraful finding the target.
Sri Lanka’s Weerappuli Kusal pulled one back two minutes later by converting a penalty corner, but Bangladesh continued to control proceedings.
Amirul restored Bangladesh’s two-goal cushion in the 27th minute before Mahbub added another in the 43rd minute, both from penalty corners.
Ashraful completed the scoring in the 54th minute by converting a penalty stroke to seal a comfortable victory for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh earned 18 penalty corners throughout the match, keeping the Sri Lankan defence under sustained pressure.
The victory marked Bangladesh’s first win in the men’s hockey competition at the ongoing Asian Games.
Bangladesh began their campaign with a 5-0 defeat to South Korea before suffering a 6-1 loss to hosts Japan in their second group match.
The men in red and green will play their remaining Pool A matches against Indonesia and India on September 26 and 28 respectively at the same venue.
