(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman edged out Iran in a penalty shootout in the final to clinch the inaugural West Asian Hockey Championship title in Doha, Qatar on Thursday night.
The match went into a tie-breaker after the contest ended at 1-1 in 70 minutes. The sultanate team then held its nerve to win 2-1 in the shootout.
After finishing their respective league matches with a win against Qatar and a draw with each other, both teams entered the final. UAE had earlier pulled out of the tournament at the last minute.
In the final, Iran went into the lead in the 26th minute via a penalty-corner when Reza Norouzadeh beat Omani keeper Salman al Noufali.
Oman didn't have to wait for long to draw level. In a goalmouth melee on the half-hour mark, Asaad al Qasmi slotted past the Iranian keeper to make it 1-1. Both teams got plenty of chances to score in the second half, but were unable to convert any of them.
Meanwhile, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced that the next edition of the event will be held in Oman. The decision was communicated to Mahfoodh Ali Juma, chairman of the Oman Hockey Association (OHA) in?Doha.
FIH's director of coaching in Muscat:Tayyab Ikram, director of coaching and secretary of high performance at the FIH, arrived in Muscat on Friday for a discussion with the OHA regarding the FIH's high performance assistance programme, which has been allocated to Oman for the 2014-2015 season.
The meeting will also discuss the contractual agreements for the FIH World League Round 1, which will be hosted by Oman in March. The sultanate will host Turkey, Azerbaijan, Qatar and UAE for the event.
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