Oman storm into semis, qualify for Junior Asia Cup

Oman storm into semis, qualify for Junior Asia CupLast edition’s runner-up Oman have displayed a roaring form in the ongoing Men’s Junior AHF Cup Muscat 2023 being played at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.

On Monday night, the hosts produced another dominating performance as they steamrolled Indonesia 8-0 to emerge as Pool A topper and advance to the semi-finals. The place in the semifinals also confirmed their ticket for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023.

Oman was joined by Thailand from Pool A while Bangladesh and Uzbekistan advanced from Pool B to the semi-finals and secured a place in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup.

Having already booked a place in the semis ahead of the Indonesia match, Oman didn’t show any complacency and Hassan al Balushi opened the floodgates with a strike in the 10th minute of the match. Hassan scored two more while AlKhoder Al Noufali also slammed two goals. Abdul Al Hasani, Aiman Madit and Omar Al Mamari were the other scorers in the big victory.

In the other Pool A match, Chinese Taipei and Thailand drew the match 1-1 but that was enough for Thailand to scrape into the semi-finals as the second-placed team from the pool.

In Pool B, Bangladesh routed Uzbekistan 6-1 but despite the defeat both the teams advanced to the semi-finals. Uzbekistan will take on Oman for a place in the final while Bangladesh will meet Thailand in the other last-four match on January 11.

With both teams out of contention, Sri Lanka recorded a consolation 5-3 win over Hong Kong. The classification matches for 5-8th place will also be played on Janu