Doha: Hosts Qatar defense withstood a late assault from Oman to pull off a stunning 4-3 win in the Hockey World League (FIHHWL), at the Al Rayyan Stadium here yesterday.
The hosts, which gained Test status in February from FIH, the world governing body, got the better of their GCC rivals with World Ranking 36 to register their first win of the round-robin championship.
With yesterday’s win, Qatar opened their points tally and kept their qualifying hopes alive in a championship which is contested by five countries. Only one team will qualify for Round 2 from the Qatar leg.
In the first match yesterday, formidable Azerbaijan trounced Turkey 4-0 to register their second successive win of the tournament.
On Tuesday, the hosts, currently unranked, went down fighting 5-4 to Azerbaijan. The Eurasians are in the 38th spot in the FIH rankings and have nine former Pakistan internationals and Olympians in their ranks.
Qatar Hockey Federation General Secretary Mohammed Nazer praised the boys performance against Oman.
Nazer said: “The win is a big boost for Hockey in Qatar. We had only 14 players including captain Yusef and Hamad Sahoti, while all other teams can rotate 18 during the game.”
The QHF official said the local boys were ready for the tough task and did not show any side-effects of playing a tough match 24 hours earlier.
“Oman were playing their first match while Qatar had played a really tough match last night with hardly any substitutions and since many players were carrying injuries in the second half,” he added.
Oman, ranked seventh in Asia and which will participate in the Asian Champions Trophy which will take place in Qatar from December 20 to 27, are yet to open their account.
The event in Qatar is the eighth Round 1 event to take place so far, with Poland, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Ireland, Austria, Egypt, Scotland, Portugal, Trinidad & Tobago, Chile and USA winning through to Round 2 with strong performances at respective events in Prague, Singapore, Cardiff, Accra Lousada, Port of Spain and Chula Vista.
The Hockey World League has been developed by the FIH to present hockey at its best whilst also providing rapidly improving hockey nations with a stage to show what they are capable of.
The Hockey World League also acts as the qualification competition for the FIH World Cups which take place in 2014.
The Peninsula
