Bangladesh beat Oman 2-1

Bangladesh national hockey team managed to get the better of rivals Oman as they beat them 2-1 in their second game of the 11th Asia Cup Hockey 2022 in Jakarta on Tuesday.

In the eight-nation tournament, Bangladesh are in Pool B along with- Malaysia, South Korea, and Oman.

In their game, Bangladesh got an early lead through a penalty corner. In the sixth minute of the first quarter, Ashraful Islam scored to put Bangladesh ahead.

But Oman equalised in the second quarter as Rashid Al Fazareer scored from a penalty corner in the 17th minute to get his team back into the contest.

Rokibul Hasan brought it home for Bangladesh when he scored in the 40th minute from a penalty corner.

Bangladesh skipper Khorshedur Rahman was adjudged the man of the match.

After the match, Bangladesh coach Iman Gobinathan said they wanted a good game on Tuesday.

“Today we came into the game thinking that we want to play from the first minute. That’s why we had a good game. Oman played well. Oman vs Bangladesh is always a close game,” he said.

Gobinathan also spoke about their goal in this tournament, “I came here to improve the way we play. The most important thing is to follow the plan. And we want to improve game by game.”

Gobinathan’s men lost their previous fixture against Oman, losing 6-2 in the final of the Asian Games Qualifier on May 15. This win completes their revenge and will eclipse their final defeat as they look to make an impression in the tournament.

Bangladesh were thrashed 6-1 in their opening fixture against South Korea. They stand third in Pool B with three points in two games, with chances of qualifying for the semi-finals being very much alive.

In their third fixture, Bangladesh will take on a very capable Malaysian side on Thursday.

The last edition of the Asian Cup Hockey took place in Dhaka and the home team lost out in the semi-final against China following a 4-3 tiebreaker after the match ended 3-3 in regular time.

Bangladesh advanced to the fifth-place match but were defeated 4-0 by Japan as they finished sixth in
that edition.