Bangladesh will play former World Cup, Olympics and Asia Cup champions Pakistan in the 5th place deciding classification match of the Asia Cup Hockey ‘2022 on Wednesday (June 1).
The match will kick-off at 12:30 pm Bangladesh time at the GBK Hockey Field in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
In the last meeting, four times World champions, three times Olympics and Asia Cup champions Pakistan outplayed Bangladesh by 6-2 goals in the Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka last year.
Bangladesh never won any match against Pakistan since their first meeting in 1982.
Pakistan beat Bangladesh 9-0 in 1982, 1-0 in the Asia Cup in Dhaka in 1985, 6-0 in 1999, 8-0 in 2003, 10-0 in 2007, 7-0 in 2017 and 6-2 in Dhaka in 2021.
Bangladesh, which achieved their ever-best world ranking of 27 in the Men’s Field Hockey, published by FIH very recently, entered the dream battle of 5th place after beating hosts Indonesia by 4-2 goals in another classification match last Sunday.
This was the 4th consecutive win for Bangladesh against Indonesia within last two months.
Bangladesh beat Indonesia 7-2 in the AHF Cup Hockey in Jakarta last March, again defeated Indonesia 3-1 in the Asian Games Hockey Qualifier in Bangkok early this month and beat Indonesia last by 2-1 goals in a preparatory match ahead of the ongoing Hero Men’s Asia Cup Hockey’ 2022.
Earlier, Bangladesh finished 3rd in the four-team Pool B of the ongoing Asia Cup Hockey securing three points from three matches after beating their traditional rivals Oman by 2-1 goals.
Pakistan, which finished 3rd in the four-team Pool A of the Asia Cup, entered the 5th place battle beating Pool B bottom team Oman by 5-2 goals at the same venue last Saturday.
Source: United News of Bangladesh