Oman make historic march into quarterfinals

Muscat: It was a memorable Monday for the hosts Oman as Siegfried Aikman’s daring boys wrote a new chapter in the Sultanate’s sporting history. No team from Oman has ever reached the quarterfinals of a World Cup  in Olympic sports till the latest achievement at the Hockey Oman Stadium in the inaugural edition of the FIH Men’s Hockey5s World Cup.

Debutants Oman defeated the USA 6-4 to top Pool D and book a spot in the quarterfinals.

On Monday, Oman led 2-1 at half-time and the scorers in the win in the final league match of the pool were Rashad Al Fazari (11’), Aiman Madit (14’), Khalid Al Shaaibi (20’ and 29’), Mahmood Bait (22’), and Fahad Al Lawati (25’). The USA fought back with three goals in the second half.

Earlier on Sunday night, Aikman-coached boys capped a stellar opening day with a 8-3 win over Fiji in the concluding match after earlier playing a 3-3 draw against Malaysia. It was the maiden win for the hosts and served the perfect boost as they overcame the challenge of the USA on Monday.

Oman topped the Pool D with seven points, level with Malaysia, but the hosts edged the latter on goal-difference with Oman scoring a total of 17 goals and conceding 10 while Malaysia hit 14 goals and conceded six.

In the quarterfinals, Oman will meet Pool C runner-up Kenya on Tuesday. The East African nation finished behind Trinidad & Tobago in the pool with two wins and one loss (six points).

The Caribbean nation topped the pool with two wins and one draw (seven points). They will take on Pool D runner-up Malaysia for a place in the semifinals.

Egypt with three wins in Pool B was the topper with nine points and were followed by India with six points. India will take on Pool A leader the Netherlands in the quarterfinals while Egypt will meet Poland in the other quarterfinals.

The Dutch were the only other team besides Egypt to march into the quarterfinals with an all-win record in the pool stage.

On Monday, the day’s action began with India walloping Jamaica 13-0 and Egypt keeping their 100 percent win record with a dominating 9-1 win over Switzerland in Pool B.

Both the Pool A matches were well-fought and the Netherlands struggled to get past Nigeria 8-6 and Poland edged past Pakistan 8-7 in a thriller to confirm their last-eight spot.

In Pool D, Malaysia outplayed Fiji 8-3 to secure their spot in the last eight while Oman emerged winners against the USA.

In Pool C Kenya were 7-4 winners over Australia while Trinidad & Tobago recorded an easy 11-4 win over New Zealand to complete the pool engagements and confirm the quarterfinal line-up.

Quarterfinals lineup: Oman vs Kenya, Netherlands vs India, Egypt vs Poland, Trinidad & Tobago vs Malaysia.

Monday’s results (till 6pm): Pool C: Trinidad & Tobago 11 New Zealand 4, Kenya 7 Australia 4.

Pool D: Oman 6, USA 4, Malaysia 8 Fiji 3.

Pool A: Poland 8 Pakistan 7, Netherlands 8 Nigeria 6.

Pool B: Egypt 9 Switzerland 1, India 13 Jamaica 0.