DHAKA, Dec 3, 2024 (BSS) - Bangladesh U-21 youth hockey team created history as they qualified for the FIH Hockey Junior World Cup for the first time after thrashing Thailand by 7-2 goals in a place-deciding encounter of the Junior Asia Cup held in Muscat, Oman on Tuesday.

Seven teams from Asia will participate in the Junior World Cup to be held in India next year. Host India will play directly while the remaining six countries will get a chance to participate from the Junior Asia Cup meet.

With this win, the boys in red and green not only qualified for FIH Hockey Junior World Cup but also confirmed the 5th-6th place match, where they will play with the winners between Korea and China tomorrow (Wednesday) to decide the fifth or sixth place in the Junior Asia Cup.

Mohammad Joy gave Bangladesh a deserving lead early in the 3rd minute with a field goal before Amirul Islam converted a penalty corner in the sixth minute.

Mohammad Abdullah further widened the margin with a field goal in the 16th minute before Thailand pulled one back by converting a penalty corner in 30+th minute.

Mehedi Hasan made the score line 4-1 with a field goal in the 34th minute while Thailand reduced the margin through a penalty corner in the next minute.

Md Khan scored the fifth goal for Bangladesh in the 36th minute while Joy scored his second and sixth goal for his team in the 39th minute of the match.

Abdullah completed the winners' tally in the final quarter scoring his second and seventh goal for Bangladesh in the 49th minute by writing a maiden history in the country's hockey.

Earlier, Bangladesh made a winning start in the tournament beating Oman by 3-1 goals but suffered a massive 0-9 goal defeat to Pakistan in their second match.

The boys in red and green, came from behind, forced Malaysia to play a 2-2 goal draw in their third match and also played a 1-1 draw with China in their last group match.