Muscat: The Oman Hockey Association (OHA) launched the first Oman national women’s team on Wednesday during a ceremony to unveil the trophy of the 2022 Women’s Asia Cup.
The Asian event briefing function featured participation of Tayyab Ikram, IOC Commission Member, FIH Executive board member and CEO of AHF, in presence of Dr Marwan bin Juma al Juma, Chairman of OHA, and team officials and captains of the participating nations.
The OHA chief welcomed the delegates in his speech. “Thanks to all for their attendance in this function. We wish you a pleasant stay in the Sultanate of Oman. We are proud to host this continental event (the Asia Cup for Women) despite the health conditions that the whole world is going through. But sports can overcome challenges, and we will take this as an opportunity to encourage the women’s hockey in the Sultanate of Oman,” he said.
Highlighting on the women’s hockey, he said that, “We have outlined programme for the Oman women’s hockey and to establish female technicians in this sport. We are all eager to start the 10th edition of the Asian Women’s Cup in Muscat. I congratulate the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) for these honourable efforts to promote hockey in our country and special thanks to the sponsors. We look forward to host a great tournament.”
Big milestone
AHF CEO, Tayyab Ikram, said the Sultanate of Oman represented by OHA achieved another big milestone through hosting the 2022 Women’s Asia Cup in Muscat. “The Sultanate of Oman is a leading country in GCC and among Arabian countries to host continental and international hockey events. There is a great development in Sultanate of Oman’s sporting field under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik. Hosting of 2022 Women’s Asia Cup and the World 5s Cup in 2024 are significant steps towards development and improvement of hockey in the Sultanate of Oman,” he said.
Ikram appreciated the efforts taken by the OHA to launch the women national team. “It is a great initiative to see the Omani women hockey team. Congratulations to OHA for their efforts in this field. Also, the launch of women hockey activities in the Sultanate of Oman as apart of the Asian event is a good move for women sport. We hope to see Omani women team competing in the forthcoming events soon,” he ended.
It is the tenth edition for 2022 Women’s Asia Cup. The first edition of the Asian event was organised in Seoul in 1985. The event act as World Cup qualifiers with four teams qualify for Women’s Hockey World Cup to be hosted in Spain and Netherlands in July 2022.
