Dhaka: Bangladesh finished 6th in the Hero 10th Men's Asia Cup conceding 0-4 defeat against Japan in the place deciding play-off match at Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium on Friday.

The match started 40 minutes later than the scheduled time due to heavy rain triggered by depression in the Bay.

Aftyer the barren 1st quarter, Shota Yamada scored a penalty corner goal for Japan in the 17th minute to take the lead and later the visitors extended their winning margin with three goals more by Kenji Kitazato, Kazuma Murata and Seren Tanaka (53') in the 46th, 49th and 53rd minutes in the next two quarters respectively.

Securing this place, Bangladesh will auto qualify for the next edition Asia Cup Hockey in 2021 while the top-three teams of the meet will qualify to play in the 14th Men's Hockey World Cup in November-December 2018 in Bhubaneswar, India.

Bangladesh registered the first win in the tournament with a sensational 4-3 win against China in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout on a rainy Thursday. It was a late surge in the tournament by Bangladesh as they saw 0-7 loss each against Pakistan and India before the 1-3 defeat against Japan in the 1st phase in their Poll A battles.