Asia Cup Hockey 2025: Japan Finish Fifth, Malaysia Clinch Bronze with Win Over China

Akhimullah Anuar(Image Credit: Hockey India)

Japan vs. Bangladesh:

It was a disappointing tournament for Japan as many expected them to qualify for the Super 4 before the tournament began, but they narrowly missed out on the Super 4, after drawing a match against China. Bangladesh on the other hand, did not get much preparation time as they replaced Pakistan for this tournament. Bangladesh head coach, Mohammad Rahman while speaking to PixelSports Exclusive, said, "It is tough to play in such a big tournament with 15-16 days to train. On top of that Bihar's weather is very hot and since we entered the tournament late, our matches have been scheduled at 9:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. So, (we got) less time to train, it's difficult, but the boys are trying".

Bangladesh won two penalty corners early on in the match which was not a threat to the Japanese defence. But that was pretty much it from Bangladesh on the offensive part other than a few hapless counter attacking attempts. Japan totally dominated the match and Ryosuke Shinohara scored a hat trick to complete the consolation victory for Japan. Japan were tremendous through penalty corners as at a certain point, they were not even looking for field goals, but they were looking to somehow hit the foot of the Bangladeshi defenders. Japan scored four out of their six goals through penalty corners. Bangladesh got their consolation goal when Amirul Islam scored in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. After the hooter went off, the classification matches were officially over with Bangladesh finishing sixth and Japan ended a disappointing campaign on fifth.

Malaysia vs. China:

Both the teams were recovering from tough defeats, with Malaysia losing to South Korea in what was probably the match of the tournament. While, China were hammered in the Super 4 Pool game against India the other night 7-0. So, both the teams came into this match with their morale down.

It was Malaysia who started the game on a high when they found the back of the net through Norsyafiq Sumantri in the 8'. China were not losing hope as they were creating chances of their own, but their finishing was poor in the final third. Circle penetration for both the teams was same, with 18 being the number for both. But the match was not so equal as the statistics suggest. Malaysia after a quiet second quarter, again found the back of the net, through tournament's highest goalscorer Akhimulla Anuar, finding his shooting sticks again after a dry run of two games. Akhimulla again scored in the beginning of the final quarter which took his goals tally to twelve goals for the tournament. He ended up as the highest goalscorer of the Asia Cup, 2025 with Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh finishing second with seven goals. China got one back when Jiesheng Gao scored from a penalty corner but minutes later Malaysia got a penalty corner of their own and Syed Cholan scored with Malaysia winning the match 4-1 in the end. It was a match where one team took their chances and the other team didn't. With this result, Malaysia earned themselves a podium finish with them getting the bronze medal. China, go back with empty hands but with a lot of important exposure and experience.