MUSCAT, Dec 28
Oman will host the Junior AHF Cup hockey championship from January 6 to 12, 2023 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Oman, runners-up behind champions China, in the last edition held in Muscat, are the second best-ranked team in the men’s Junior AHF Cup 2023 tournament.
Eight teams are vying for the honours in two groups.
Pool A includes hosts Oman, Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Indonesia. Pool B comprises top-ranked Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Uzbekistan.
Oman Hockey Association (OHA) Chairman Dr Marwan bin Juma al Juma hoped for a repeat performance from Oman junior side.
“We hope to repeat last edition’s performance and go on to win the title this year,” Dr Marwan said.
“Our national team also has presence of several junior players and we expect to put up a good performance at the AHF Cup,” he added.
Shakir Muneer, OHA technical official and goalkeeping coach, said the squad is well prepared.
“We are match-ready and the youngsters are pumped up to show their skills in the Asian tournament. We hope to make the most of it,” he said.
In their first match, Oman will take on Chinese Taipei on January 6. The hosts will meet Thailand on January 8 and will wrap up their Pool A matches with a match against Indonesia on January 9.
The semifinals and classification matches for fifth to eighth places will take place on January 11.
The tournament will conclude with the final and play-off matches for third place and other classifications on January 12.
Five teams from the tournament will join the already qualified India, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia in the Men’s Junior Asian Cup.
Also, the Men’s Junior Asia Cup is a qualifier round for the FIH Hockey Junior World Cup 2023 with four spots available excluding the hosts Malaysia.
The 13th edition of the Men’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup, the biennial men’s under-21 field hockey world championship organised by the International Hockey Federation will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
GOOD RECORD
In the last edition of Junior AHF Cup in December 2021, also held in Muscat, Oman missed the silverware very closely after losing to China 2-4 in the penalty shoot-out.
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.
Chinese Taipei won the bronze medals after beating Uzbekistan 5-3 in the third-place play-off.
Oman captain Rashad al Fazari claimed the top-scorer award after netting eight goals in the tournament.
Uzbekistan captain Gaybullo Khaytboyev won the player of the tournament award.
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