Oman hockey still skating on thin ice

The game of ice hockey is struggling to find its feet in Oman as it does not have a governing body to run it smoothly, according to a top official. “We still don’t have an official body to control the game and work to spread and improve it but we have great hopes that an official society will be established soon after we applied to the Ministry of Sports Affairs in the Sultanate,” said Jihad Al Shaikh, Head of Oman’s delegation to the second GCC Ice Hockey Cup now under way. “At the moment, we have two Omani teams and a team which is mostly formed from the Canadian community and includes some European players who are playing against each other. “This is our only second tournament outside Oman. The first was in 2010 when we took part in the First GCC Ice Hockey Cup in Kuwait. The players pay most of the expenses of this trip while the Ministry of Sports Affairs helped to finance it which gave us hope that they will accept our application soon.“ I believe we have good raw talent in Oman and once the new body is announced, it will work on finding ways to finance plans to spread and improve the game,” Al Shaikh added. “We are thankful for our brothers in the UAE and Kuwait who are always keen to help us in our quest to provide opportunities for our players to polish their talent and gain experience,” Al Shaikh concluded.