Bangladesh ended fifth in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2024 after beating China by 6-3 goals in a place-deciding match (fifth/sixth) at the Hockey Oman Stadium in Muscat, Oman on Wednesday, reports the Daily Sun.
Rokibul Hasan Rocky and Amirul Islam made a hat-trick each for Bangladesh. Rocky scored three goals in the 1st, 52ndand 60th minutes while Amirul scored three in the 21st, 26th and 31st minutes.
For China, Jialiang Zhang scored a brace in the 19th and 42nd minutes while Zhenxin Chen added one in the 11th minute.
Both Bangladesh and China along with four other semifinalists -- India, Pakistan, Japan, and Malaysia earlier qualified for the upcoming 14th Men's FIH Hockey Junior World Cup as the six top-ranked nations of this regional age-level event.
The Junior World Cup is scheduled to be held in December of next year in India.
However, Bangladesh beat Thailand by 7-2 goals and China beat South Korea by 4-3 goals in place-deciders (fifth-eighth) to reach the leaderboard of the top six at the same venue on Tuesday.
Bangladesh earlier played seven times in the Junior Asia Cup since their first participation in the 1992 edition held in Malaysia where they achieved the highest fifth rank, but they never got a chance to participate in the World Cup.
Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) president Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan on Wednesday announced to accord a reception to the players and coaching staff due to their historical achievement.
The reception ceremony will be held after the team’s arrival at the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) Falcon Hall in Tejgaon on Thursday.
Bangladesh, who qualified for the Asia Cup as the Men's Junior AHF Cup 2024 champions, ended third in the five-team Pool B of the ongoing competition with 5 points from one win against Oman by 3-1 goals, two draws against Malaysia and China by 2-2 and 1-1 goals respectively and 0-6 goals defeat to Pakistan.
bd-pratidin/Rafid
