The Bangladesh women鈥檚 hockey team clinched the bronze medal in their maiden appearance at the AHF Women鈥檚 Under-18 Asia Cup with a 6-2 win over Kazakhstan in the third place decider at the Dazhou National Hockey Training Centre in Dazhou, China, on Sunday. 听
The Bangladesh men鈥檚 team also had an opportunity to secure the bronze medal; however, the silver medallists from the previous edition were defeated by Malaysia in their third-place decider, losing 5-2 on the same day.
In the women鈥檚 bronze contest, Airin Riya, who was adjudged as the player of the match, scored a hat-trick while captain Sharika Rimon, Kona Akter and Riyasha Rishi scored one goal each for Bangladesh. 听
Zhansaya Mangeldi gave Kazakhstan the lead in the ninth minute of the match with a strike from a penalty corner. But Bangladesh equalised through Riya from the penalty corner three minutes later.听
Bangladesh went 3-1 up in the second quarter as Riya completed her hat-trick by converting a penalty stroke in the 18th before scoring a field goal in the 20th minute.
Sharika scored from a penalty corner in the 35th minute, followed by Kona, who added a field goal in the 50th minute. Riyasha then scored from another penalty corner in the 53rd minute, before Zhanar Bektemissova pulled a goal back for Kazakhstan in the 59th minute.
Earlier, in the super-four stage, the Bangladesh women鈥檚 team played a 2-2 draw against Kazakhstan on Friday after suffering a crushing 9-0 defeat to China.听
Bangladesh women鈥檚 team had a demoralising start in the eight-team tournament as they lost to Japan 11-0 in their Pool A opener before beating Uzbekistan and Hong Kong by identical 3-0 margins to manage their spot in the super-four.听
In the men鈥檚 third-place decider, Md Mehedi (10th) and Jnoy Islam (41st) scored once each for Bangladesh, while M Rahuul (41st, 49th), Hisyammudin Abdul (sixth), Abdul Yahkip (50th), and Saiful Syahfy Mohd (60th) scored for Malaysia.听
In the semi-final, Bangladesh conceded a 6-4 defeat to Japan.听
Bangladesh reached the semi-finals as runners-up from the five-team Pool A with nine points from four games as they won against Hong Kong 3-0, Sri Lanka 13-0 and China 5-2 before a 6-3 loss to Pakistan.
听听
听
