India emerged as the champions of the Under-18 Asia Cup Hockey after beating hosts Bangladesh 5-4 in a pulsating final at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in the capital on Friday.
The home side went ahead twice with captain Romman Sarkar, Mohammad Mohsin, Ashraful Islam and Mahbub Hossain netting one apiece for the boys in red and green while Konjegbam Singh scored two and Shivam Anand and Hardik Singh added one each for the visitors. Abhishek bagged the winner three seconds before the final whistle to seal victory.
Let alone winning the title, Bangladesh U-18 never reached the final of an international tournament prior to the U-18 Asia Cup Hockey 2016. They played in the same competition only once in the inaugural edition in 2001 where they finished fifth.
Bangladesh, who defeated the same opponents in their first match of the tournament with a 5-4 margin, didn't have the best of starts to the game.
India, on the other hand, looked more organised than their first game defeat, dominating possession at the beginning before Bangladesh slowly started to wrest away the rhythm as the game wore on.
The hosts went close with only four minutes into the clock but Romman's touch on a fierce Ashraful hit flew over the bar.
India received their first penalty corner two minutes later but they squandered the chance with a poor final shot. Bangladesh goalkeeper Yeasin Arafat then made a brilliant save to deny a Konjegbam flick in the 19th minute.
Romman put the young Bengal Tigers ahead in the 22nd minute from Bangladesh's first penalty corner. Ashraful's shot from Fazle Rabby's push and Naim Uddin's stop was blocked by the Indian defence but Romman collected the rebound before finding the back of the board with an unstoppable hit.
The delight however, lasted less than a minute as India defender Shivam equalised the margin with a decent finish after racing forward into the right side of the circle.
Both the sides earned another penalty corner each in the 27th and 33rd minute but neither of them yielded any results.
Mohsin gave Bangladesh the lead again in the last minute of the first half with a superb connect from a Sobuj Rahman hit.
The visitors began the second half brightly and scored two more goals to take control of the driving seat. Hardik restored parity in the 43rd minute before Konjegbam gave them the lead in the 51st minute.
Drag-and-flick specialist Ashraful, who scored 10 goals from three matches, put things level in the 58th minute from Bangladesh's third penalty corner but Konjegbam scored again for the visitors three minutes later.
Mahbub made it 4-4 in the 63rd minute before Abhishek struck in the dying moments to break Bangladesh's hearts.
Meanwhile, Pakistan finished third after beating Chinese Taipei 18-0 in the third-place deciding match.
China beat Oman 2-1 in the day's other classification match to finish fifth among seven teams.
Romman was adjudged player of the tournament while Ashraful received the highest scorer's award.RESULTBangladesh 4 (Romman 22, Mohsin 35, Ashraful 58, Mahbub 63) 5 India (Shivam 23, Hardik 43, Konjegbam 51, 61, Abhishek 70)THIRD-PLACE DECIDERPakistan 18-0 Chinese TaipeiFIFTH-PLACE DECIDERChina 2-1 Oman
Thursday, June 04, 2026
