Hockey team pummelled

Bangladesh hockey team suffered a 7-0 defeat against Malaysia -- their first defeat of the 2018 Asian Games -- at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium hockey field yesterday.

Having started their campaign with a 2-1 win against Oman which was followed by a 6-1 thrashing of Kazakhstan, the men in red and green faced a side who were technically far superior and far more agile.

Gobinathan Krishnamurthy's charges managed to keep his compatriots at bay in the first quarter. However, once the first goal went in -- a penalty corner converted on 18 minutes -- the floodgates opened.

The fourth-placed finishers from the last Asian Games scored two more goals in the first half before adding four more after the break, with four of the seven goals coming from open play. Two goals came from penalty corners while the other came from a penalty stroke.

The Bangladesh coach admitted it was an uneven match-up, and informed that their target is to secure either a fifth or sixth position finish.

“Malaysia came with two years of preparation while we came with two months',” Krishnamurthy said after the match. “It's like Bangladesh playing against Brazil [in football].”

The Malaysian added that their concentration will now be on beating Thailand. “Our focus will now be on the match against Thailand [Aug 26], and if we win that match, we will be able to play in the fifth-sixth place decider match, which will be the first time for us.”

Wins over Thailand and Pakistan will take Bangladesh to the semis.

ARCHERS SHOW FIGHT

Bangladesh's recurve mixed team in archery gave it their all to reach the quarterfinals. The pair of Ruman Sana and Nasrin Akter beat their Kazakhstan counterparts by 5-4 set points, setting up a quarterfinal clash against Japan.

However, they failed to lift their game against the Japanese, losing by 5-1 set points. The compound mixed team, featuring Ashim Kumar Das and Roksana Akter, failed to get past the pre-quarterfinal stage, losing against Philippines by 154-149 points.