MUSCAT: FIH President Tayyab Ikram said the world hockey body is delighted with the success of a shortened and fast-paced version of hockey bridging gaps between new nations and traditional powerhouses of the game.
“It is a great delight for all of us to see the so-called ‘smaller nations’ that are new to hockey bridging the gap to the traditional powerhouses of hockey at this World Cup. It shows that Hockey5s is achieving its primary objective of making hockey accessible on a large scale throughout the world,” Ikram told reporters while addressing a press conference at the Hockey Oman Stadium, the venue of the inaugural FIH Hockey5s World Cup currently underway in Muscat.
The FIH president said the facilities in Oman would act as a hub for development of hockey in the GCC.
“The FIH is planning to make these facilities in Oman as the hub for the development of hockey in the GCC region, which will be very important, given the Asian Games in 2030 will be played in Doha and the 2034 games will be hosted in Saudi Arabia.”
TRAINING HUB
The FIH is also planning to make the state-of-the-art facility in Al Amerat as a training hub for international teams.
“We are planning to make the Hockey Oman Stadium a training hub for international teams. For teams flying from Europe to South Asia or Oceania and vice versa for hockey events, Oman and its new stadium will be an ideal spot to train in the build-up to the event, making use of these international facilities of the highest standard. The FIH Academy will also work closely with Oman Hockey Association and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth in Oman to develop a hockey programme that will make use of the facilities to promote a hockey programme for the youth of Oman.”
Adding to Hockey5s’ popularity, Ikram said the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Thailand would have a competition in Hockey5s format.
“In the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Thailand we will also have competition in the Hockey5s format in addition to our 11-a-side hockey and indoor hockey competitions. There are also ongoing conversations with the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games to add Hockey5s into the programme along with Indoor Hockey, which had previously featured in the 2007 edition of the games in Macau.”
He also thanked the Oman Hockey Association and its chairman Dr Marwan bin Juma al Juma, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and HH Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham al Said for making the dream of an FIH Hockey5s World Cup a reality.
“The feedback from all the athletes that have participated in the Hockey5s World Cup as well as the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers, which was also hosted in Muscat earlier this month, has been overwhelmingly positive. I congratulate the Oman Hockey Association on the smart creation of the stadium and adjacent infrastructure which has been built in a record time, while maintaining the highest international standards.”
HAPPY WITH THE SUCCESS
OHA Chairman Dr Marwan bin Juma al Juma said it was a great feeling to see the success of the World Cup.
"Ever since we won the right to host the inaugural edition of the FIH Hockey5s World Cup, we have been working really hard to make this the best event we could. It has been great to see the level of competition at this World Cup with new nations competing at a high level against traditionally strong hockey teams."
Ikram explained new sustainability initiatives introduced at the FIH Hockey5s World Cup.
“We are working closely with the International Olympic Committee who are aiding us in meeting the larger sustainability guideline of the United Nations. The Hockey5s World Cup has introduced our new dry turf that requires no use of water, and instead relies on a wet ball, named ‘Rewetta’, that requires a fraction of the water as compared to the past.”
Oman also hosted a National Associations Summit of hockey nations two days ago, attended by members of 35 National Associations.
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