MUSCAT: Top contenders Pakistan started their campaign in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup Salalah 2023 hockey championship with a thumping 15-1 win against Chinese Taipei in Salalah on Tuesday.
Earlier, in the opening match of the tournament, Japan thrashed Thailand 7-1 and the third match saw Malaysia drub Uzbekistan 8-1.
The matches are staged at the Sultan Qaboos Youth Complex in Salalah.
In the Pool A match, Mohammad Khan and Abdul Shahid scored three goals each, while Arbaz Ahmad netted two for a dominant Pakistan in a Pool A match against minnows Chinese Taipei. Bilal Akram, Abdul Qayyum, Abdul Rehman, Basharat Ali, Zikriya Hayat, Arshad Liaqat and Muhammad Murtaza also made it to the scoresheet to complete a 15-1 margin.
Te-ju Lin netted the consolation goal for Chinese Taipei in the 49th minute.
In the first match, Japan gathered full three points against Thailand.
Tsubasa Tanaka scored a hat-trick (10th, 19th and 20th minutes) for Japan while Kumpei Yasuda netted a brace. Ikumi Saeki and Kodai Saeki also found the target for the winners. To their credit, all the Japanese goals were field goals while Kritsana Phumee scored the lone penalty corner goal of the match for Thailand in the 44th minute.
In a Pool B match, Malaysia also started off with a resounding win against Uzbekistan.
Perabu Tangaraja converted three penalty corners for Malaysia (7th, 9th, 18th minutes). Alfarico Liau, Shahmie Irfan Suhaimi, Nur Aqilrullah Che (pc), Mughni Kamal and Adam Ashraf were the other scorers.
Uzbekistan pulled one back through Shavkatjon Kakhramonov in the 55th minute.
TROPHY UNVEILED
On Monday, the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) unveiled the Junior Asia Cup trophy in a grand ceremony organised by hosts Oman Hockey Association (OHA) in Salalah.
The trophy was showcased amidst the presence of all ten team captains from Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Thailand, and Uzbekistan.
Dato Fumio Ogura, President of the Asian Hockey Federation, expressed his gratitude to the Oman Hockey Association (OHA), stating, “On behalf of the Asian Hockey Federation, I extend my sincerest gratitude to the Oman Hockey Association for hosting this significant event. Our past experiences have shown us the exceptional capabilities of OHA as an excellent host for AHF events. We take great pride in our strong working relationship with the OHA, who have consistently proven themselves as one of the finest hosts in Asia. We would also like to express our appreciation to Dhofar Municipality, the local government of Salalah and all the sponsors and facilitators of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023.”
OHA Chairman Dr Marwan al Juma, said: “We are deeply honoured to host this significant event. The Oman Hockey Association is committed to serving hockey in the best possible manner, and we strive to continue our endeavours in promoting the sport across Asia and beyond. Serving our future hockey stars, the junior athletes, is another honour for us, as we consider the athlete development a top priority. We thank the Asian Hockey Federation for entrusting us with hosting this event and wish all the participating teams the very best.”
At the ceremony to reveal the trophy for the Dhofar Municipality Men’s Junior Asia Cup in Salalah, Dr Khamis Salim al Rabhi, OHA Secretary- General, expressed his deep appreciation to the Asian Hockey Federation. He conveyed that hosting the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 is a tremendous privilege for Oman, and the association is committed to executing this esteemed responsibility with utmost dedication and competence.
“We are delighted to host Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023. It is a great privilege to be host the top Asian teams and the future hockey stars. We realise the significance of this responsibility which we have been entrusted with by the Asian Hockey Federation. We pay our utmost gratitude to AHF for this honour. We hope that all the guests enjoy themselves with the best experience of our hospitality in Salalah.”
THREE SPOTS FOR JUNIOR WORLD CUP
The top 10 Asian men’s junior teams are battling it out in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup Salalah 2023 from May 23 to June 1 with three spots up for grabs in the upcoming FIH Junior Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023, to be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The ten participating teams have been split into two pools, with Pool A comprising Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Pakistan and Thailand. In Pool B hosts Oman are joined by Bangladesh, Korea, South Malaysia and Uzbekistan.
Each team in the pool stage will play the other four teams in their pool once. The top two teams in both pools will qualify for the semifinals, while the teams in third and fourth positions will compete for the 5-8 place classification. The teams finishing in the fifth place in both pools will go head-to-head to avoid finishing in the tenth place.
The losing semifinalists will play in the bronze medal match, with the two finalists and the bronze medalists qualifying for the FIH Junior Hockey World Cup 2023. Malaysia, as hosts, have already qualified for the World Cup, so if Malaysia enter the semifinals of the Junior Asia Cup, all the other three teams making it to the semifinals will gain entry into the World Cup as well.
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