Bangladesh crush Sri Lanka 5-1 for first Asian Games Hockey win

Bangladesh secured their first win in the men’s hockey competition at the 20th Asian Games with a commanding 5-1 victory over Sri Lanka at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, on Thursday (September 24).

Amirul Islam and Ashraful Islam scored twice each, while Mahbub Hossain added the other goal as Bangladesh dominated the match and kept Sri Lanka under sustained pressure. Bangladesh earned more than 15 penalty corners during the contest.

Amirul opened the scoring early before Ashraful doubled Bangladesh’s lead. Sri Lanka pulled one back through Kushal, but Amirul restored Bangladesh’s two-goal advantage before Mahbub extended it further. Ashraful completed the scoring late in the match from a penalty stroke.

The victory came after Bangladesh opened their campaign with a 5-0 defeat to South Korea and then lost 6-1 to Japan.

Bangladesh will face Indonesia on September 26 before taking on India on September 28 at the same venue.