China crash Oman party

MUSCAT, Dec 15 - Oman missed the silverware very closely after losing to China 2-4 in the penalty shoot-out of the Men’s AHF Junior Cup final at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat on Saturday night. Oman though created more chances in the full time, earning four penalty corners and coming close to score on quite a few occasions in an intense game. Chinese goalkeeper Junyuan Hu was the star of the final who helped China salvage a goalless draw in the regulation time. Hu, who had denied Oman in the four penalty corners with his brilliant saves, repeated the performance in the penalty shoot-out also.

Hu saved attempts from Akram Bait Shamaia and Amir al Mashari while Oman goalkeeper Ibrahim al Hasani could save only one Chinese attempt, from Yonghua He who took the first shot. In a colourful concluding ceremony, HH Sayyid Melek bin Shihab al Said, gave away the trophy and presented gold medals to the winners in presence of Dato Tayyib Ikram, Chief Executive of Asian Hockey Federation (AHF), Sayyid Khalid al Busaidi, Oman Olympic Committee Chairman, Rashad al Hinai, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Sports Affairs, and Talib al Wahaibi, Chairman of Oman Hockey Association (OHA).

IMPROVING STANDARD

Tayyib Ikram said the tournament showed the improving standard in the Asian hockey. “Overall, the tournament clearly showcased the improving technical standards of the Asian teams. For instance, Iran, who are coming for the first time, made an impressive performance to finish seventh.”

“Teams like China and Oman are showing great promise. Especially, the Oman squad has evolved a lot after their high-performance training during the past years. I am sure we will see a lot of good results from these teams in the near future,” Ikram told Oman Daily Observer.

OHA chief Talib al Wahaibi said the OHA has already presented a roadmap for the hockey team for its preparation for the Asian Games China 2022 and Paris Olympics 2024.

“We have presented our roadmap for the Asian Games 2022 and Paris Olympics 2024 before the Oman Olympic Committee.”

Al Wahaibi said the junior team has come up very well. “This Oman team has evolved a lot and are the future of the Oman hockey. We hope to achieve good success with the team in the future.”

Chinese coach Wenjin Xue thanked the OHA for the successful conduct of the tournament. “We are really impressed with Oman’s hospitality and the facilities were all good during the tournament,” Xue said.

He said the Chinese players could wadapt to the conditions in Oman and were able to improve their performance as the tournament progressed.

the Junior Asian Cup in 2020,” Xue added.

Oman team manager Mohammed al Batrani said Oman were unlucky not to seal the game during the full time. “We could not score past the Chinese goalkeeper on many occasions. We were unlucky also not to hit the target on some close chances,” Al Batrani said.

Chinese Taipei won the bronze medals after beating Uzbekistan 5-3 in the third-place play-off earlier.

Earlier in the classification matches, Singapore beat Thailand 1-0 to finish fifth and Iran claimed the seventh spot after beating Sri Lanka 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out. The teams were 1-1 at full time.

Hong Kong finished last in the nine-team tournament hosted by the Sultanate for the first time.

RASHAD EMERGES TOP-SCORER

Oman captain Rashad al Fazari claimed the top-scorer award after netting 8 goals in the tournament. “I am very happy to become the top-goal scorer of the tournament. We were unlucky not to win the title as we missed some very close chances and the China goalkeeper saved all our efforts in the penalty corners,” the 18-year-old said.

Uzbekistan captain Gaybullo Khaytboyev won the player of the tournament award. China goalkeeper Junyuan Hu was selected as the best goalkeeper and Oman’s Mohammed al Noufali bagged the player of the match award in the final.

By entering the semifinals, Oman, China, Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei have booked their places in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2020 in Bangladesh.