By Anuroop A — MUSCAT: The Oman Hockey Association(OHA) on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) and the International Hockey Federation (FIH). OHA Chairman Talib al Wahaiby and AHF CEO Dato Sree Tayyib Ikram signed the MoU at the Oman Olympic Committee headquarters in Al Ghubra.
Tayyab Ikram, who is also the regional development officer of FIH, said the MoU will help Oman build a basic structure for hockey in the country.
“The initiative will help OHA in bringing FIH and AHF projects to Oman. It will hugely boost to build a technical and training system in the country. The OHA will be able to support the game in various parts of Oman with the international bodies assisting in gaining technical expertise,” Ikram said.
Training, coaching, umpiring and technical infrastructure will get considerable support under the MoU.
“With this, the high-performance assistance project will come to Oman. The AHF will help OHA meeting the domestic challenges in implementing various projects.”
The OHA chairman said the deal will help Oman hockey in many ways.
“I think we can develop the game at the grass roots level and with the high-performance project we will be able to lift the standard of hockey in the country,” Talib al Wahaibi said.
Al Wahaibi said OHA will seek top-level tournaments from the AHF.
“We want to stage more international tournaments as this will increase the popularity of the game in the Sultanate. We are keen to host top-level 5-a-side international tournaments and WHL tournaments among others,” he added.
The AHF CEO said the agreement will be for two years, but will be considered for Vision 2020 programme also.
“This will help Oman build hockey from the grass roots level up to the high performance level.”
Oman can take advantage from the FIH and AHF expertise to set up their own system to promote hockey in the country, Ikram said.
“The OHA will also have to adhere to the commercial and business commitments of AHF and FIH in this regard,” he said.
Tayyib Ikram was in the country to attend the recently concluded His Majesty’s Cup hockey championship. Seeb claimed their record 11th title edging a valiant Bausher 3-2 in the final at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher.
During an earlier chat with the AHF CEO, he said Oman needs to invest in quality coaches.
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