Dhaka: Bangladesh have achieved a rare honor of clinching the eight-nation Men’s Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Cup crown for the 3rd time in a row. This time they did it with an all-win record, defeating Sri Lanka 3-0 in the final at the King’s Park Hockey Stadium in Hong Kong on Sunday. 

With the feat, Bangladesh qualify for the finals of the Asia Cup next year, likely to be held in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh led the first half by 1-0 goal in the final of the 5th version of the AHF Cup, which is designed for Asia’s weaker teams.

Hasan Jubair Niloy put Bangladesh ahead in the 22nd minute by field goal 
(1-0) while Ashraful Islam doubled Bangladesh margin in the 61st minute from a penalty corner (2-0). 

AHM Kamruzzaman sealed the fate of the match scoring the 3rd goal in the 67th minute, from another penalty corner (3-0).

Earlier, Bangladesh smartly booked a seat for the final crushing Singapore by 8-0 goals in the first semifinal while Sri Lanka reached the final eliminating hosts Hong Kong by 2-0 goals in the other semifinal.

This was the 5th consecutive win for Bangladesh against Singapore in the international hockey. 

However, hosts Hong Kong finished 3rd beating Singapore by 2-1 goals in a 3rd placing deciding match at the same venue Sunday afternoon. The match was locked in 1-1 in the first half.

In the day’s other classification matches, Uzbekistan beat Thailand by 5-4 goals after a 4-4 draw in the stipulated period while Chinese trounced Macau by 15-1 goals on Sunday. 

Earlier, Bangladesh booked a seat for the semifinal as the Pool A champion with all-win record, collecting full nine points from three outings. 

On the way to semifinals, Bangladesh outplayed Macau by 13-0 goals, following their victories against hosts Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei, both by 4-2 margin.