Defending champions Bangladesh smartly reached the semifinals of the 12-nation Bangabandhu Cup' 2023 International Kabaddi with all-win run outplaying England by 55-27 points in their 4th group match at the Shaheed Noor Hossain Volleyball Stadium Friday afternoon
Bangladesh led the first half by 29-10 points.
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With the day's well merited victory, last two times champions Bangladesh clearly dominated the Group A securing full eight points from straight matches and will face Iraq in their last and group deciding match on Saturday.
Captain Tuhin Tarafder started Bangladesh journey with a point in the very first raid of the match giving a clear message to England in the very beginning about Bangladeshâs intention.
But, Bangladesh received a severe blow in the very 5th minute when two reliable players Roman Hossain and Rasel Hasan collided with each during a catch attempt and had to leave the court with forehead injuries.
Bangladesh earned the first Lona in the 13th minute. The other Lona in the first half happened in the 17th minute.
Bangladeshâs dominating approach never allowed England to settle as Al Amin and Mizanur Rahman continued to explore the opponent territory regularly with success.
Bangladesh earned another two Lonaâs in the second half.
Mizanur scored 14 points in the day's match taking his total individual points to 54 points in four matches.
Later, Mizanur was adjudged man of the match.
After the match, skipper Tuhin Tarafder paid tribute to the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and vowed to continue the winning streak.
âI dedicate the victory to our father of the nation and we have attained our first goal of reaching the semifinals. Now we are more confident to make our next goal a reality, we will now focus on reaching the final,â said Tuhin.
In the day's other match, Kenya came out firing with a massive 81-26 points win over Malaysia.
Kenya registered their 2nd win in four matches while consecutive four losses saw Malaysia crash out of the tournament.
In the day's other match, Nepal outplayed all losers Argentina by 62-28 points in the day's third match.
Argentina suffered their third defeat in same number of matches while Nepal kept their semifinal hopes alive with the 2nd win from four matches