Bangladesh brush aside Malaysia in Bangabandhu Kabaddi

Hosts Bangladesh continued their domination in the 4th Bangabandhu Cup International Kabaddi Tournament with a 73-22 points win over Malaysia in their Group A encounter at the Shaheed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium in Mirpur on Monday.

On the back of a 67-22 points win over South Korea in the opening match, buoyant Bangladesh looked very aggressive from the outset and took an 11-0 lead against a side, who had on Sunday conceded a 67-30 points defeat at the hands of Nepal.

Raiders Arduzzaman Munshi, Mizanur Rahman and Al Amin were unstoppable from the beginning while defenders Roman Hossain, Rasel Hasan and Sajedul Chaklader were rock solid to catch the opponents regularly.

Out of 73 points, Bangladesh bagged 53 from raids and defence while the rest came from bonuses and lonas.

Even though Malaysia had beaten South Korea 40-38 in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year and played well against Iran and Pakistan too, they could not repeat their improved performance against Bangladesh, who reduced them to all-out three times in each half.

The charges of Abdul Jalil went for the break with a comfortable 37-4 points lead that prompted the coach to test his reserve bench. Malaysia took advantage and collected a few bonus points in the second half.

"Our initial target was to make sure of the victory. We started widening the winning margin after the victory was ensured," said man of the match Al Amin. "We always respect opponents and consider them strong. So, we started the game aggressively with an aim to win the match because we want to be champions in the tournament for the fourth time."

Bangladesh will play their third group match against Indonesia on May 29.