(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) The Sultanate of Oman can further improve its standards and world ranking in field hockey with more support and competitive experience of playing against successful international teams, an International Hockey Federation (FIH) official said. FIH Continental Development and High Performance Officer Tayyab Ikram, speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA) said, "Oman Hockey Association (OHA) needs more support from the State to see their national team reach high performance level." The FIH official is visiting Qatar to observe the ongoing West Asia Hockey Cup, organised by Qatar Hockey Federation under the aegis of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) at the Rayyan Stadium. "Oman needs to build a high performance centre with top facilities and a player-support system. If OHA does this soon, I see their national team giving tough fight to more experienced teams of the world." Macau-based Ikram spoke to QNA Tuesday night at a banquet hosted by QHF for Oman, Iran and Qatar teams and international hockey officials participating in the five-day tournament. Reaffirming the FIH official's belief, Oman team Manager Mohammed Abdullah Said Al Batrani said, "We have a good talent pool of players. We have close to 400 registered players. We have a long-term plan of developing hockey. I hope we can compete well against strong teams from Asia like Pakistan, India, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan in the next five years." It is true, Oman does not lose to big teams with a tennis set score-line like 6-0 while most developing hockey nations get soundly beaten. Ikram agrees. "They were not misfits in the last Asian Champions Trophy," he said. "They competed well against strong teams. They lost 2-4 to Malaysia which shows they have the potential to play at this level." Oman occupies 23rd position on FIH's men's world hockey rankings as of January 20, 2014. It is ahead of countries like United States, China, Italy, Scotland, Brazil and Mexico. Oman confirmed it merits its high ranking by convincingly defeating Iran and Qatar in the West Asia Cup here in the absence of their top players. Half of their key players are not playing this tournament. Ikram is not impressed. "This should not happen, if they want to improve and gain experience." Before arriving Qatar to observe this tournament Ikram visited Oman to evaluate the progress made by OHA and the national association's development plan, coaching and umpiring development, national teams' participation and youth development programme. He also held talks with OHA Chairman Sheikh Mahfoodh Ali Juma Al Juma and other officials. On Qatar's prospects in field hockey, Ikram said, "The sport is still at a nascent stage here. Qatar needs to think about developing hockey at the grassroots level. This is a big challenge because it is a very difficult sport. However, Qatar's vision and push for sports at all levels will certainly augurs well for hocke
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