Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: The Sultanate will host the inaugural Hockey 5s World Cup to be held in January of 2024, the International Hockey Federation on Thursday announced that Oman had won the bid to host the event by getting 13 votes out of a total of 16 and beating 6 other bids for the event.
The Oman News Agency said in a tweet, “With this, the Sultanate's men's and women's teams will participate directly in the world championship by having automatic qualification, as 32 teams will participate in the tournament which will be held in January 2024, including 16 for men and 16 for women."
Meanwhile, the International Hockey Federation also tweeted: “Oman's capital city Muscat will host the first ever FIH Hockey5s World Cups (men and women) in January 2024.”
Dr Narinder Batra, the FIH President, congratulated the Sultanate for having the confidence of the members of the Executive Office of the FIH to host the Hockey5s World Cup for men and women, and said in a statement to the ONA, "This victory came from the reality of what the Sultanate's file contained in the elements of the organizational success in accordance with international standards that determine this." As the Sultanate’s file was distinguished in all respects, and we are fully confident in the ability of the Oman Hockey Association (OHA) and those responsible for sports in the Sultanate to organize this tournament in a manner befitting of the Sultanate’s well-known reputation in this aspect.”
In the same context, Dato Tayyab Ikram, President of the Asian Hockey Federation, member of the Executive Office of the FIH, and member of the team sorting the file to host the World Cup Hockey5s Championship, said in a statement to Oman News Agency, “Chaired by the President of the Federation, Dr Narinder Batra, and after reviewing the files of the competing countries, they reached a full conviction of the Omani file strength and the comprehensive data it contained in all fields, and the Sultanate’s winning rights to host the championship is a win for the entire continent of Asia.”
For his part, Oman Hockey Association President Captain Talib Al Wahaibi, said, "We dedicate the Sultanate's win and the honor of organising the 2024 Hockey5s World Cup to His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik and all hockey fans in the Sultanate."
Al Wahaibi said in a statement to the ONA that winning the rights to host the championship is a great gain for the Sultanate and for Omani sport, given that the championship is the first Hockey 5s tournament to be organized globally, and the Sultanate won the honor of hosting it, and the name of the Sultanate will be firmly established in the history of the championship.
The head of the Oman Hockey Association praised the international community for this great confidence, saying, "It will certainly have a great impact on the development of hockey, and we will prepare and qualify a team capable of competing with the participating teams."
