OMANGOES DOWN FIGHTING
China wins 2-1; second successive defeat for Poonacha’s men in Asia Cup hockey
It was a match where a win could have boosted Oman's chances to finish among the top-six nations in the Asia Cup hockey tournament, currently being played in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. But despite giving a good performance, Oman went down fighting to China 1-2 in a Pool B match at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium on Saturday.
It was the second successive loss for Oman after it was trounced by defending champion, South Korea, 7-2, on Thursday in the opening match.
The successive defeats has dampened Oman's chances to finish among the top-six, an aim Oman’s coach K K Poonacha, had set in Dhaka.
With the next match against a strong Malaysia team on Monday, Oman is now out of reckoning for the next stage and will have to fight for classification matches after its concluding pool match.
Late on Saturday, Malaysia upset South Korea 2-1 to go top of pool with its second successive win. It had trounced China 7-1 in its opening match.
On Sunday, India will take on Pakistan in a clash of titans in a Pool A match with the game between Bangladesh against Japan preceding it.
Oman is among the lowest- ranked teams participating in the continental showpiece event and the higher-ranked China (No 18) was given a huge scare by the 30th-ranked Omani team.
Oman and China began the first quarter with attacking hockey. While it was China who drew the first blood with a successful penalty stroke wellexecuted by Du Talake in the seventh minute, Oman equalised in the very next minute through Rashad al Fazari whose lethal dragflick converted a penalty corner.
The following minutes saw Oman play impressive hockey with noteworthy skills and good structure. It punished the Chinese forwards with good defence that kept the rivals from making any successful forays into Oman’s circle.
The second quarter saw both teams vie for goals but was hard to come by as both teams missed the net. China finally made a breakthrough in the 44th minute when Quyang Guan beat the Oman defenders to put the ball past goalkeeper Fahad al Noufali and take the lead.
The sultry Dhaka weather slowed down the pace of the game a tad bit in the final 15 min- utes. Though Oman made desperate attempts to create successful circle penetrations, it missed out chances to score.
China on the other hand found an opportunity to double its lead via penalty corner in the 51st minute but couldn’t capitalise following a poorly executed variation.
A disappointed Oman captain Hashim Ghanim al Shatri said, “I think this was our best chance to earn full points but we were really unlucky to miss out on some easy chances.
“Chinese players seemed to slow down in the third and fourth quarter because of the humid weather but sadly, we could not use that to our advantage. We are used to these conditions in Oman. That said, I must point out that our goalkeeper Noufali made some really good saves and ensured the goal difference was not too much.”
Earlier on Thursday, South Korea overcame an early 0-1 setback to rout Oman 7-2.
Oman surprised the fancied rival as it held the first quarter in a stalemate. Rashad al Fazari stunned the holders as he converted a field goal in the 18th minute.
Oman held on to its lead until Lee Mookyoung beat Oman goalkeeper Noufali to score the equaliser in the 22nd minute.
South Korea came back strongly in the third quarter to go 4-1 up by the end of the quarter.
Oman lost its steam in the final quarter and lacked consistency in its defence and South Korea increased the margin to 6-1.
Oman's Mubarak al Qasmi scored a consolation goal in the 52nd minute but the Koreans scored one more goal in the final minutes to finish with a 7-2 margin.