Bangladesh will be firing on all cylinders against Singapore in the Islami Bank Asian Games Hockey Qualifiers at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium at 4:00 pm today.
Bangladesh beat Hong Kong China 5-1 in their opening match but the forwards were misfiring and head coach Naveed Alam expressed his anxiety over the subject. “I have talked with the boys and some of them admitted that they were a little unsettled, I have asked them about keeping cool and play according to the plan, I hope the performance will be better against Singapore,” said Naveed.
Commenting about Singapore, Naveed said they re-grouped against Iran and won the match after trailing by two goals and they are a fit unit.
Meanwhile Oman continued their winning spree with a 3-2 win over Sri Lanka yesterday.
Oman took the lead in the 12th minute though their second penalty corner with Rajab Basim Khatar hitting the board after Al Nofli Younis Ghabish Salmeen’s push and Khalfan Qasim Moosa’s stop.
Sri Lanka equalized in the 28th minute as Lahiru Gihan Weerasooriya produced brilliant stickwork in the right flank and beat onrushing Omani goalie Fahad Khamis Salmeen with an angular hit.
Oman retained their lead in the 45th minute through their in-form forward Mahmood Ashoor Ramadhan, who dragged a penalty corner into the left hand post of Sri Lankan goalie Darsana Ratnasiri
Ramadhan, the tall forward repeated the act in the 50th minute with another efficient drag off a penalty corner.
Sri Lanka tried hard to hit back and Lahiru Gihan Weersooriya again struck in the 63rd minute as his timely deflection on a Tharanga Gunawardana hit crashed into the post.
Oman beat Chinese Taipei 1-0 in their first match while Sri Lanka were held to a 1-1 draw with Qatar in their first encounter.
In the other match of the day Chinese Taipei bounced back to their winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Qatar.
Taipei, who lost to Oman 1-0 in their opening match, went ahead in the 13th minute as Liu Chin-Kun made his way through the Qatar defence with a solo effort and scored the goal with a soft push past Qatari goalie Ali Shahzad.
Taipei doubled their lead in the 32nd minute with a superb effort of Lin Tse-Yen. Lin flicked a cracking hit of Lin Cheng-Yan at the roof of the Qatari post with the others still to react.
Three minutes after the resumption, Qatar reduced the margin with a field goal from Stevenson Savio.
Liu Chin Kun was adjudged as the man of the match.
Taipei has three points from two matches while Qatar remained on their previous collection of one point.
