Muscat, May 21
The Oman national hockey team lost the opening match against Malaysian team, the last edition champions, at Men’s Indoor Asia Cup hockey championship on Tuesday, being hosted by Kazakhstan from May 21 to 26, with participation of eight teams namely: Oman, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Iran, Singapore, Tajikistan and Thailand.
Oman suffered a 10-2 loss against Malaysia in the first match of Group B. Other teams in the group include Kazakhstan and Indonesia.
Oman players did not perform at the level required due to many mistakes made throughout the four quarters of the match, while Malaysia benefited from those mistakes and took advantage of most of the penalty corners and kicks.
Oman team started well with focusing in the defence line, but quick movements of the Malaysian players resulted in a goal due to the defender mistake. Then Malaysian pressure continued and they got some penalty corners as the first quarter ended 1-0 for Malaysia.
The second quarter witnessed changes by the Oman coach. However, individual mistakes caused Malaysia to receive three penalty corners and a penalty kick. Oman team was able to score a goal through Osama Ramadan, but Malaysia were in firm control with three more goals as the quarter ended with Malaysia leading 4-1.
In the third quarter, Omani players sought to reduce the score, but Malaysian defence was holding up well. And again, Malaysian players succeeded in benefiting from Oman players mistakes and scored three goals to end the quarter with a commanding 7-1 score.
Oman players lost hope and focus after receiving seven goals, despite this, they tried to benefit from the match when they score a goal through Rashid al Fazari, but the Malaysian team was able to widen the gap with a score of 10-2.
Oman will play two matches on Wednesday, first against Indonesia at 12:30 pm, and second and final match in the group stage against Kazakhstan at 7 pm (Oman time).
Oman hope to compensate loss against Malaysia and keep their hopes for advancing in the tournament with a win against Indonesia. The last group match against hosts Kazakhstan will also be crucial. Kazakhstan are one of the favourites for the championship title.
Al HARRASI NAMED AS DIRECTOR
The Asian Hockey Federation chose Omani official Abdullah al Harrasi to manage Men’s Indoor Asia Cup hockey championship as tournament director, which is the highest position in the tournament. The Asian Hockey Federation had previously entrusted Al Harrasi with many tasks in the management of several tournaments. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had also assigned Al Harrasi to manage the world championships.
Al Harrasi has good experience after he started officiating as a judge in local competitions, then he obtained international stadium judge certificates. He participated in the first international tournament in 2012, until he gradually obtained a number of international certificates.
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