Bangladesh team in action

Bangabandhu Cup International Kabaddi tournament is underway in Shahid Noor Hossain National Volleyball Stadium, Dhaka. The Day 4 of the tournament saw two tight games and a one sided game where Poland bowed out after a 4th loss in the tournament. Day 4 had Nepal taking on Poland, Sri Lanka facing hosts Bangladesh and Kenya went up against Nepal.

The Day started off with Nepal taking on Poland at Dhaka. Both teams coming into this game win-less. Poland had shown glimpses of good performance but not enough to get across the line in any of the 3 games. On the other hand Nepal who came in late to the tournament, coming in to this match with a loss. The game started off with Nepal in the drivers seat and scoring points at regular intervals where Poland did not get a chance to make a comeback. Towards the end of the 1st half Poland showed some character to get close to the score of Nepal. At the end of first half the scores read 19-10 in favor of Nepal. 2nd half was all about Nepal where they scored 21 points and gave away only 9 points to hand Poland their 4th consecutive loss and eliminated them out of the tournament.

The 2nd match of the day saw the hosts Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka. The hosts walked into this game after winning all three matches and Sri Lanka also came into this game without a loss after their two completed matches. The most awaited match of the tournament which had a lot of expectations and it did not fail to deliver. This turned out to be the most interesting match of the competition so far. Both teams with great reputation started the game on a neck to neck note. Bangladesh went ahead after an super tackle on Sri Lanka few minutes before the end of first half which put them in lead. At the end of 1st half the scores read 14-9 in favor of the hosts Bangladesh. The final half of the match started with Bangladesh pushing Sri Lanka to an all-out and the took an 9 point lead in the game. The match went forward with Bangladesh scoring points at regular intervals, but there was a twist in the tale as Sri Lanka started making a come back in the game as they pushed the hosts to an all-out and the scores read 28-23 in favor of Bangladesh. In the dying minutes of the match Sri Lanka kept themselves in the game as they were getting close to that Bangladesh score. It all went down to the last raid where the hosts had one player left on their side and Sri lanka with a full house defense and everyone knew this was the last raid of the match, and scores read 32-31 in favor of Bangladesh. The last raid saw Bangladesh's Zakir Hossain save the most important all-out of the tournament to win the game with two points score difference. Sri Lanka put in an advance tackle in front of the baulk line to gift Bangaldesh a point and the celebration began at the Bangladeshi camp with Nagin dance!! to avenge their loss of SAG 2019. The home crowd were treated by a special performance by the hosts.

The last match of day 4 saw Kenya take on Nepal in which Kenya were coming into this game with one win over Poland and two close games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Nepal on the other hand were coming in with one win and a loss. The match started off with Kenya scoring points and taking the first advantage in the game. Nepal had no answers to Kenya and the first half ended with score 17-6 in favor of Kenya. The 2nd half was a complete contrast to the 1st half as Nepal were at it from the word go. Nepal produced a great comeback into the game as they were getting close to the score of Kenya. At one point Nepal had scored 12 points and gave away on 5 points to Kenya. In the end it was Kenya how held their nerves to edge out Nepal by four points to get closer to qualification.

Summary Results from Day 4 of Bangabandhu Cup 2021

Match 1- Nepal vs Poland: 40-19
Match 2- Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka: 33-31
Match 3- Kenya vs Nepal: 26-22

Day 4 of the Bangabandhu Cup saw hosts Bangladesh edge over Sri Lanka in a tight game to make it to the finals of Bangabandhu Cup 2021, Nepal had a mixed day as they won comfortably against Poland and lost a tight game to Kenya. Day 5 of this tournament has two mouth watering matches lined up with the last league match where Nepal will take on Sri Lanka where both teams are still in the hunt for a qualification. Following the final league match will be the Qualifier where 2nd place team will play the 3rd place team which is a virtual Semi-final of Bangabandu cup 2021. Bangladesh sit comfortably on top who will play the finals, but against whom we will have to wait and watch!