Three-time champions South Korea thumped Bangladesh 9-0 in their opening game at the 9th Men’s Hockey Asia Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Sunday.
Bangladesh had targeted sixth position prior to the tournament’s start, but they began their pursuit by shipping nine goals against powerhouse South Korea, ranked sixth in the world.
Hyun Ho initiated the rout by scoring the opening goal in the early stages of the game, before Hyun Hye-sung added a second goal in the 21st minute.
South Korea went 3-0 up in the 31st minute when Jang Jong-hyun scored from a penalty corner. Hyun Hye-sung bagged his second and his side’s fourth goal in the dying minutes of the first half.
Defending champions South Korea, who beat Pakistan in the 2009 final, started the second half in a similar rhythm to the first.
Seven minutes into the second half, Jang Jong-hyun notched his second as South Korea went 5-0 up.
In the 52nd minute, Jung Joe-mai scored his side’s sixth goal, as Bangladesh failed to even put together an attack of their own up until the end of the game.
With five minutes left to play, Bangladesh orchestrated their only two attacks of the game through Pushkor Khisa Mimo, but on both occasions the shot missed the post by a wide margin.
South Korea finished off the game with three quickfire goals in the 68th, 69th and 70th minutes, with a third goal for Jang Jong-hyun followed by strikes from Lee Seung and Kim Jyun.
This was the ninth encounter between the two sides. Bangladesh fell to their eighth defeat, with the other game ending in a 1-1 draw.
Bangladesh, ranked 31st in the world, will face Oman today in their second game, which will start at 4:00pm. Star Sports will televise the match live.
Oman started their Asia Cup campaign with an 8-0 defeat against India on Saturday.
The previous meeting between Bangladesh and Oman in round two of the World Hockey League this year resulted in a 4-1 win for Bangladesh.
-With New Age input
