U20s finish seventh at Junior Asia Cup with win over Chinese Taipei

Bangladesh brought their Junior Asia Cup Hockey campaign to a close on a winning note on Saturday, defeating Chinese Taipei 5-2 in the seventh eighth place play off to secure a seventh place finish in the Under-20 tournament.

The result, however, does little to soften a bigger disappointment for Bangladesh, who competed at last year's Junior World Cup but have this time fallen short of the top five finish required to book a return trip to the tournament.

Giles Bonnet's side struck first through Munna Islam, who converted a penalty corner to give Bangladesh an early lead, only for Chinese Taipei to level the scores right at the end of the opening quarter.

Bangladesh regained control in the ninth minute of the second quarter through a superb piece of field play, with Mohammed Rifat finishing off a pass from Sabbir to restore his side's advantage heading into the interval.

Bangladesh continued to dominate proceedings through the third quarter, though somewhat against the run of play, Chinese Taipei drew level once again at 2-2 in the 13th minute of that period.

The response from Bangladesh was immediate, with Tayyeb Ali converting another penalty corner just a minute later to push the Red and Greens back in front, this time by a scoreline of 3-2 heading into the final quarter.

Bangladesh took full control from there, allowing Chinese Taipei virtually no opportunities to fight back as Mohammed Rifat added his second goal of the match just three minutes into the final period to make it 4-2.

With five minutes remaining on the clock, Mohammed Abdullah added further gloss to the scoreline with an excellent field goal, extending Bangladesh's advantage to 5-2 and effectively putting the result beyond any doubt.

Rifat finished as Bangladesh's top scorer on the day with two goals, while Munna Islam, Tayyeb Ali and Mohammed Abdullah each contributed a single strike to round out a convincing team performance in Inner Mongolia.