Hong Kong edged out of Asiad cricket medals
A few months ago, on a balmy night in Chittagong, Hong Kong stunned test nation Bangladesh in the ICC World Twenty20 to make the world sit up and take notice.
Sadly for Jamie Atkinson's team, there was no sequel to that performance today as Bangladesh coasted to a 27-run victory to take Asiad bronze.
"This is a huge missed opportunity for Hong Kong cricket. It would have been nice to finish on the podium and get the recognition we deserve," said Hong Kong head coach Charlie Burke.
We gave away about 20 runs too many and that hurt us in the end. It's really disappointing as I thought we were one of the top three sides in this competition\
Bangladesh's win will be small consolation for a side which won the gold medal four years ago and missed the final this time on the toss of a coin after the semi-final against Sri Lanka had been ruined by rain.
Hong Kong's wayward bowling let them down, as they conceded 162 runs in 20 overs. That they reached 135 for seven in the run chase shows they might otherwise have had a decent chance.
"We gave away about 20 runs too many and that hurt us in the end. It's really disappointing as I thought we were one of the top three sides in this competition," Burke said. "But we messed up yesterday [against Afghanistan] and that cost us. We played much better today, but in the end 160 was too big a total to chase down.
"We showed a lot more fight with the bat today, but our bowling let us down. We gave away too many boundary balls in the power play."
