Golf fight, hockey rout

Bangladesh endured a disappointing day at the Asian Games on Thursday, as spirited golf performances were overshadowed by crushing defeats in hockey and judo.

Fight in golf

At the Kasugai Country Club in Japan, Bangladesh’s golfers stayed in the mix after the second round of the men's individual event.

Badal Hossain led the national charge, carding a one-under-par 139 to sit tied for 16th place. Veteran Siddikur Rahman remained within striking distance at level-par 140, sharing 22nd spot, while Jamal Hossain Mollah slipped to tied-34th with a four-over-par 144. China’s Ding Wenyi and Wang Wei-hsuan of Chinese Taipei shared the lead on nine-under 131.

Olympic qualifying dream ends in hockey

Bangladesh suffered a heavy 7-1 thrashing at the hands of China in men’s hockey. The defeat ended their hopes of playing in the fifth-sixth place playoff and dashed their dream of reaching the 2028 Olympic qualifiers.

Asian Hockey tournament director Ghulam Ghaus confirmed that the top six teams from the Games will book spots in both the next Asian Games and Asia's Olympic qualifiers. Bangladesh will now take on Thailand on 3 October in the seventh-eighth place classification match.

Bangladesh's German head coach, Peter Gerhard, pulled no punches after the rout.

"Bangladesh are not a team that should lose by seven goals against China," Gerhard said. "The players are tired, and many are carrying pain. There are plenty of officials travelling with the squad, but we don’t have a single physio. One player even had to go to the hospital."

Team manager Ariful Haque Prince explained that the official Games physio could not be reached because of the distance to the venue, while accreditation card issues stopped them from flying in a physio from home. Despite the travel fatigue, Gerhard made it clear there was no rift or grouping inside the camp.

Early exit in judo

Bangladesh’s challenge in judo ended quickly on the tatami. In the men’s -81kg division, Amirul Islam bowed out with a loss to Bahrain’s Askarbii Gerbekov. In the women’s -70kg category, Fabiha Bushra was eliminated after falling to Uzbekistan’s Khurshida.