Oman outclass Sri Lanka for second win a row

Sports Saturday 10/March/2018 21:55 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman outclass Sri Lanka for second win a row

Muscat: With Salah Al Saadi scoring a brace, Oman outclassed Sri Lanka 5-1 to record their second win in as many matches in the 2018 Asian Games Hockey Qualifier at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Saturday.
On a day when Chinese Taipei handed Kazakhstan a 8-3 drubbing in a Pool B match, hosts Oman proved too strong for Sri Lanka in the same group on their way to their successive win which put them firmly on the track to clinch one of the five Asian Games berths.
Oman are currently on top of Pool B with six points followed by Chinese Taipei (3), Sri Lanka (3) and Kazakhstan (0) in that order.
After edging out Chinese Taipei in a seven-goal thriller on their opening Pool B match on Thursday, Oman came up against a confident Sri Lankan side who also began their campaign with an emphatic 6-0 win over Kazakhstan.
Oman made a rousing start against Sri Lanka opening their account just two minutes into the match through a fine field goal by Salah Al Saadi.
But the Sri Lankans held their own for the rest of the first quarter and most part of the second. But Khalid Al Shaaibi’s 28th minute short corner conversion proved vital for the hosts as they took a 2-0 lead into the break.
In the third quarter too, the Sri Lankans tried their best to match the hosts but they were jolted by two quick goals scored by Oman’s Mahmood Bait Shamaiaa and the experienced Basim Khatar in the 39th and 44th minutes respectively.
Then in the 51st minute, Salal Al Saadi scored his second goal to complete Oman’s tally.
Sri Lanka though managed to pull one back through Anuradha Rathanayake in the 56th minute.
Taipie fightback
Earlier, Chinese Taipei had to overcome an early reverse before going on to outplay Kazakhstan for their first win of the tournament.
Just five minutes into the match, the Kazakhs took the lead with Yerkebulan Dyussebkov scoring the first of his two goals.
But their lead lasted just two minutes as Chin-Kun Liu brought the score to parity and thus started the Chinese Taipei’s dominance.
For the record, Ching-Chich Hsu and Chun-Che Hu scored two goals each while Sung-Tinig Lu, An-Szu Li and Tzu-Tu Huang one a piece in Chinese Taipei’s victory.
Besides Yerkebulan Dyussebkov, the other scorer for the Kazakhs was Tilek Uzbek.
Oman take on Kazakhstan in their next Pool B match on Monday when Sri Lanka face Chinese Taipei.
In Pool A matches to be played on Sunday, Bangladesh square off against Hong Kong and Thailand take on Afghanistan.