World Cup hopes on the line for Bangladesh jr hockey team after Pakistan loss

Bangladesh’s hopes of qualifying for the FIH Hockey Junior World Cup for a second consecutive time have come under serious threat after the men in red and green suffered a 3-0 defeat to Pakistan in their final Pool B match of the Men’s Hockey Junior Asia Cup in China on Wednesday.

The defeat, Bangladesh’s third in four matches, left them fourth in the five-team pool and set up a 5th-8th place-deciding clash against strong Japan on Friday. The top six teams from the Junior Asia Cup will qualify for the Junior World Cup, with Bangladesh having secured their place in the 2025 edition after finishing fifth in the previous Junior Asia Cup.

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Victory over Japan would send Jiles Bonnet’s charges into the 5th-6th place-deciding match and keep their World Cup hopes alive.

Japan will present a tough challenge for a Bangladesh side that have struggled for consistency. They narrowly lost 3-2 to China and 4-2 to Malaysia before beating Kazakhstan 4-2 as expected, only to suffer another defeat to Pakistan. Pakistan rode on a brace from Waleed Rana before Ghulam Mustafa completed the scoring.

A third-place finish in the pool would have given Bangladesh a comparatively easier route against Chinese Taipei, but they failed to raise their performance when it mattered and must now overcome Japan to stay in contention.