Saturday 21 / December / 2024
MUSCAT: January 31, 2024 will go down as one of the glorious days in Oman’s sporting history as the national hockey men’s team claimed a bronze medal, a first ever at a World Cup.
Oman edged past Poland 3-2 in a bronze-medal playoff match on the concluding day of the inaugural edition of the FIH Men’s Hockey5s World Cup at Hockey Oman Stadium in Al Amerat.
Siegfried Aikman’s men did the Sultanate proud with the medal as no Oman team has ever climbed on the podium of any Olympic sport event.
Rashad Al Fazari got the hosts a dream start in the third-match playoff match with a goal in the seventh minute but Poland fought back to get the equaliser in the 14th minute through Damian Jarzembowski to end the first half 1-1.
However, Aiman Madit put the hosts back into the lead with a goal soon after the interval but Jakub Holosyniuk levelled with five minutes remaining.
Fahad Al Lawati got the winning goal a minute later and the hosts held the defence tight for a memorable and historic win to earn the bronze.
Later, Malaysia will play against the Netherlands to decide the winner of the inaugural edition of the FIH Hockey5s World Cup.
Earlier, India finished fifth with a 6-4 win over Egypt.
