Ipoh: India would be looking to continue with their dream run when they take on Bangladesh in the Asia Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh on Wednesday. India managed to win their past couple of matches and have confirmed their semi-final berth in the tournament. If India win the tournament, they will qualify for the World Cup at The Hague, Netherlands.
India won their opening match of the tournament against Oman by 8-0 where Mandeep Singh struck a hat-trick of goals. Against South Korea, India won the match by 2-0.
India’s confidence would be quite high not just because of their impressive performance, but also because Bangladesh have lost both their matches so far. They were thrashed in their opening tie by Korea 9-0 and in the second match, Oman defeated them by 4-2.
If India go on to win against Bangladesh, they will play against Malaysia in the semis, who managed to make it to the last four after registering a 4-2 win against Japan on Tuesday. Malaysia were stunned by the attack of Japanese who struck couple of goals in no time but they came back from behind and scored four goals to clinch this nerve-wracking thriller.
Meanwhile in the other clash of the day, Pakistan thrashed Chinese Taipei, who were playing the inaugural condition of Asia Cup, by 13-0. With the nine points from all three matches they ended the league stages on a positive note and Malaysia stood at second spot with six points.
For both eight-time Olympic champions India and neighbours Pakistan, it is a do-or-die tournament as one of them faces the prospect of missing out on a World Cup berth for the first time since the launch of the tournament in 1971.