The Sri Lanka Men’s Hockey team won their 3rd consecutive match in the 2022 Men’s Asian Hockey Federation Cup (AHF Cup) against Kazakhstan today (15) at the GBK Hockey Field in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The score line was 4-0 at full time in favor of Sri Lanka, with goals by Ishanka Doranagala (15th Min), Dhammika Ranasinghe (23rd Min, 53rd Min) and Suresh Rathnayake (43rd Min), while Sri Lanka goalkeeper Tharindu Hendeniya defended brilliantly once again against the Kazakhstan attack.
Earlier this week, the Lankans beat Uzbekistan (0-5) and Thailand (2-6). With today’s victory, they are confirmed to top Group A (Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Uzbekistan) of the competition, and are assured of a place in the semifinals which will be worked out on 19th March at 16:30 SL time.
The opponent for the semifinal battle against Sri Lanka is not decided yet as the Group B (Oman, Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, Singapore) matches are yet to be completed.
This competition will be a qualifier for the Asia Cup 2022 which will be played in Indonesia. The top 3 teams of the AHF Cup will join the automatic qualifiers – India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Pakistan – in the Asia Cup. Teams finishing in the top four at Asia Cup will qualify for the 2023 World Cup, which is scheduled for next January in Odisha.
In the last 5 editions of the AHF Cup, Sri Lanka have been able to secure the championship title even though they came close last time, losing 3-0 to Bangladesh in the finals in 2016 AHF Cup.
 against Kazakhstan today (15) at the GBK Hockey Field in Jakarta, Indonesia.){kind=link}