Bangladesh emerge hat-trick champions in AHF Cup Hockey

Bangladesh emerged hat-trick champions fifth Men’s AHF Cup Hockey beating Sri Lanka by 3-0 in the final held on Sunday at King`s Park Hockey Stadium in Hong Kong.

The winners’ stretched the first period of play as they took a narrow 1-0 lead after the breather.

This remarkable victory was the third straight title in a row after 2008 (Singapore) and 2012 (Thailand) since the tournament was introduced in 1997.

This triumph also enabled Bangladesh direct entry into next year`s Asia Cup.

In the day`s match, Hasan Jubayer Niloy opened an account for Bangladesh with a field goal in the 22nd minute while after the lemon break Drag-flick specialist Ashraful Islam doubled the lead for his team in the 61st minute.

Midfielder Kamruzzaman Rana sealed the fate of the match scoring the third goal for the boys` in red and green in the 67th minute of the match.

Earlier, Bangladesh triumphed 8-0 over Singapore to storm into the final on Saturday while Sri Lanka subdued hosts Hong Kong 2-0 in the second semi-final match that was rescheduled to be played early in the morning today (Sunday) due to rain.

The Sri Lanka-Hong Kong semi-final match was scheduled to be played after the completion of the first semi-final encounter between Bangladesh and Singapore on Saturday but a heavy downpour which lasted several hours forced the organisers to reschedule the match to Sunday morning -- 10 hours before the start of the final.

Source: BSS