Bangladesh stormed into the final of the Bangabandhu Cup International Kabaddi with a comfortable 45-26 win against Thailand in the first semi-final at Shahid Noor Hossain Volleyball Stadium Monday.
The hosts will face Chinese Taipei in Tuesday's grand finale as the latter overcame Iraq in the other semi-final.
Two-time champions Bangladesh, ranked No 5 in the world, had a cautious start against 9th-ranked Thailand.
The scoreline of Bangladesh 2 Thailand 3 in the sixth minute showed the slow scoring rate.
In the 13th minute, Bangladesh leveled the margin for the first time when the board showed 7-7.
However, captain Tuhin Tarafder ousted three Thai players in the 16th minute with a magnificent raid and it arrived as the turning point.
Bangladesh inflicted the first Lona or allout with a super raid from Tuhin, and started firing from all cylinders.
The signal of the conclusion of the first half saw Bangladesh 17-11 in the lead.
After the change of ends, Bangladesh concentrated upon keeping the lead, taking more points with raids rather than catching the Thai attackers.
Roman Hossain branded a super performance in the dying minutes with his precise catching.
Raider Chayaphon Kamunee troubled Bangladesh defence line and scored eight points but Thailand were unable to break the superiority of the holders.
Man of the match Tuhin scored 11 points while Mizanur Rahman, the rising star, also supplied 11 points in his team's account.
