The four-time champions Bangladesh reached the semifinal as Group B champions with all-win record outplaying Sri Lanka by 5-0 goals in their 4th and last group match of the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Cup held at CBK Hockey Field in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Bangladesh will play the semifinal with Group A runners-up either Oman or Chinese Taipei, now playing each in a Group A match on Wednesday.
In the day’s match, Rakibul Hasan scored two field goals for Bangladesh in the 39th and 42nd minutes and was adjudged player of the match while Fazle Rabbi, Arshad Hossain and Naim Uddin scored one goal each for Bangladesh in the 43rd, 49th and 50th minutes respectively --first two were field goals and last one from a penalty corner.
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Bangladesh team made a flying start in the ongoing AHF Cup outplaying Kazakstan by 5-1 goals in the opening match, defeated hosts Indonesia by 3-2 goals in the 2nd match and beat Thailand by 2-1 goals in the 3rd match.
Top two teams of the 10-team AHF Cup Hockey, held in two groups, will qualify for the final round of the eight-team Men's Asia Cup Hockey billed for the Indian city of Rajgir, Bihar from Aug 27 to Sept 7 next.
Six teams--Defending champions South Korea, hosts India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan and China--will directly play in the final round of the Men's Asia Cup Hockey.