Bangladesh continued their clinical performance in the Islami Bank Men’s Junior AHF Cup to lift their maiden title of the tournament beating Oman 4-0 in the 1st place decider at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Bangladesh participated in the inaugural edition in 2003 in Karachi and finished third but did not appear in the following editions in 2007 and 2011. In 2004, Bangladesh clinched the title of an invitational Under-21 tournament organised by the Bangladesh Hockey Federation which was, however, not recognised as an AHF event.
Oman, who lost 0-7 to the hosts in the group stage, forced their way in to the Bangladesh defence in the early minutes with Muhanna Naser Ali and Shafi Talib Nasib while they could have surprised the home side in the third minute, but Salmeen Ahmed Said dragged the ball wide of the side post from a penalty corner.
Bangladesh settled in and adopted a counter attacking strategy which nearly paid off in the ninth minute. Forward Milon Hossain, floating unmarked a few feet away from the Oman post, failed to flick a neat cross of Moinul Islam Koushik.
However, Bangladesh took the expected lead in the 16th minute with Khorshedur Rahman, the penalty corner specialist, hitting the target. Defender Ashraful Islam doubled the margin in the 24th minute off another beautifully planned penalty corner. Khorshed Hossain, who usually takes the final drag, pushed the ball to Ashraful as he used the space to rattle the net.
In their fourth penalty corner of the match and three minutes after the resumption, Khorshed deceived the Omani defence with another low drag to increase the margin while the final nail on the coffin was hammered by Bangladesh captain Sarwar Hossain in the 50th minute. It was Koushik’s galloping run down the left flank which paved the way for Sarwar who was in a perfect position to unleash a cracking hit at the 18-inch board.
Oman piled up considerable pressure in the dying stages to earn four penalty corners, but Bangladesh goalkeeper Ashim Gope shielded the threats with superb positioning and reflex saves as the home side completed the tournament without conceding a single goal in five matches.
Both Bangladesh and Oman qualified for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup to be held next year in May in Malaysia.
