Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka to clinch third straight AHF Cup title

Bangladesh have beaten Sri Lanka to become champions in the Asian Hockey Federation Cup for a third consecutive time and earn a direct route into 2017 Asia Cup.

Sports Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 27 Nov 2016, 01:01 PM
Updated : 27 Nov 2016, 02:29 PM

Bangladesh thrashed their sub-continental rivals 3-0 at the King's Park Hockey Ground in Hong Kong on Sunday.

After the tournament's inception in 1997, Bangladesh emerged champions in 2008 and 2012 before this. Russell Mahmud Jimmy and his men will now lock horns with the big guns of Asia in next year's championship, thanks to their triumph in the fifth edition.

Bangladesh fashioned the hat-trick of titles with an unbeaten run this year. Goals from Hasan Jubair Niloy, Ashraful Islam and AHM Kamruzzaman fired them past Sri Lanka.

Going into Sunday's game on the back of four successive victories over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh broke the deadlock with a field goal from Jubair in the 22nd minute. It was his second strike of this edition.

Ashraful, who had scored a hat-trick in Bangladesh's 13-0 rout of Macau earlier in the competition, doubled the lead from a penalty corner in the 61st minute. Kamruzzaman then topped it off with another a minute before stoppage time.

Bangladesh had begun their campaign with a 4-2 win over the hosts before beating Chinese Taipei with the same scoreline in the group stages. They swept away Macau in the next match to become Pool A champions.

German coach Oliver Kurtz's men then blew away Pool B runners-up Singapore in an 8-0 thumping on Saturday to ease into the title decider.

Bangladesh's towering goal-tally (32) stands above all other teams' in this edition. They conceded the fewest, just four, as Ashraful became the top scorer with nine goals.

Captain Jimmy, penalty corner specialists Mamunur Rahman Chayan and Roman Sarkar hit the target four times while Sarwar Hossain scored three goals through the competition.