Dhaka: Hosts Bangladesh smartly reached the final of the seven-nation Beximco 4th Boys’ Under-18 Asia Cup Hockey’2016 with all-win record eliminating Chinese Taipei by 6-1 goals in the first semifinal at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

Bangladesh will play on Friday at 3 pm at the same venue against former champions India, which booked a seat for the title-deciding match eliminating their traditional rival Pakistan by 3-1 goals in the 2nd semis Thursday afternoon.

In the previous meetings, Bangladesh beat Chinese Taipei 3-1 in the First U-16 Asia Cup in Malaysia 2001 and defeated them by 4-2 goals in way to clinch the AHF Cup title in 2012 in Thailand in addition to beat Taipei by 8-1 goals in a preparation in Dhaka last week ahead of the ongoing Youth Asia Cup Hockey.

On way to the final in the ongoing meet, Bangladesh made the biggest upset beating India by 5-4 goals in their opening Pool A match and crushed Oman by 10-0 goals in the 2nd match.

India booked a seat for the final, crushing Oman by 11-0 goals after conceding 4-5 defeat against Bangladesh in group matches and reached the final eliminating arch-rival Pakistan by 3-1 goals in the 2nd semis.

In the day’s first semifinal, the home side dominated the first half by 2-0 goals.  

After the day’s match, Bangladesh’s hero Ashraful Islam expressed his overall satisfaction over the day’s match and expressed optimism for a positive result in the final (against India).  

“We are ready to give our best in the final, we want to do something special for our country, and hopefully we will be the champion” he added.

Ashraful Islam scored three goals, two from penalty corner and one from penalty stroke, Raju Ahmed and Fazla Hossain Rabby netted one field goal each while Sajib Hossain netted the other goal from penalty corner.

Tzu Yu Huang scored the consolation goal for Chinese Taipei, a field goal, in the 2nd half.  

Penalty corner specialist Ashraful Islam put Bangladesh ahead in the very 3rd minute from a penalty corner, pushed by Fazla Hossain Rabby and stopped by Naim Uddin (1-0).

Raju Ahmed doubled the margin for Bangladesh in the 28th minutes by a reverse hit, off a Roman Sarker pass (2-0).

Tzu Yu Huang reduced the margin for Taipei (2-1) in the 41st minutes flicking the ball home (2-1).

Ashraful Islam scored his 2nd and the 3rd for Bangladesh in the 48th minutes from a penalty stock (3-1).  

Ashraful Islam further increased the Bangladesh margin scoring his 3rd goal and the 4th for team in the 52nd minutes from his favorite penalty corner, pushed by Fazla Hossain Rabby and stopped by Roman Sarker (4-1).  

Sajib Hossain scored the 5th goal for Bangladesh in the 60th minutes from a penalty corner, pushed by Raju Ahmed and stopped by Arshad Hossain (5-1).

Fazla Hossain Rabby sealed the fate of the match in the 65th minutes by scoring a field goal (6-1).

Earlier, in the 9th minutes, Chinese Taipei managed a golden chance to level the margin but Chung Pang Shih's low penalty stroke was saved by Bangladesh goalie Yeasin Arafat.  

Bangladesh earned eleven penalty corners and utilized three.

In the day’s 2nd semifinal, Shivam Anand put India ahead in the 7th minute by a field goal (1-0), Dilpreet Singh doubled the Indian margin in the 33rd minute from a penalty corner (2-0), Sandeep Nilam scored the 3rd goal for India in the 46th minute from penalty corner (3-0).

Amjad Ali Khan scored the lone goal for Pakistan in the 62nd from a penalty corner (3-1).