Sport news

THE Oman national volleyball team pose for a group photo.

By Our Sports Reporter
MUSCAT — After months of preparations, it is time of action as 19th Gulf Cup activities will officially kick off at the Sohar Sports Complex with the start of the volleyball tournament today. Though the football championship, the mega sporting event of the Gulf region, will be launched only two days later (on January 4) in Muscat, it is the volleyball tournament that will set the ball rolling for the sports extravaganza the Sultanate's people of have eagerly been waiting for.

The Gulf Cup volleyball tournament, one of the three sports competitions along with handball and basketball being organised as the associate games of the soccer championship since the 17th Gulf Cup, is into the edition and will see five teams vying for top honours. With the exception of Saudi Arabia, who refused to take part in the associate competitions, the other five GCC  countries will be seen in action in what is expected to be a fierce competition  for the supremacy in the regional  volleyball.

The last two editions, held during 17th Gulf Cup in Doha and the 18th championship in Abu Dhabi, had produced tough competition among the teams, especially the latter where the title fight ended in tie between Oman and the UAE. The Sultanate squad were unlucky in losing the title to the UAE on set points after both teams finished with same number of victories and points.

This time around the Sultanate's spikers, who have been preparing rigorously for last nine months, are hoping — with a bit luck of course — to lay their hands on the coveted trophy. The Omanis launch their campaign against arch-rivals UAE in the inaugural match of the five-team round-robin league at the refurbished Sohar Sports Complex today.  Bahrain, champions from 17th Gulf Cup, will lock horns with Qatar in the second match of the evening at the same venue. The weeklong tournament will see the teams taking on each other once before the squad with maximum number of points winning the title on January 8.

OMAN CONFIDENT
The Oman volleyball team, like their more popular football squad, have brought cheers to the Sultanate's sports fans with that second-place finish in Abu Dhabi and fortunately they are now under the tutelage of the same coach, China's Qiao Yuchauan, who took them tantalisingly close to the crown last time.

With a minor drawback in the recent Arab championship notwithstanding, the team have been growing in confidence under the Chinese coach and are looking forward to the championship with optimism. Thanks to the untiring efforts of the Oman Volleyball Association, the team was able to undergo several training camps both at home and aboard starting from April last year.

After the initial camp in Sohar, where Qiao Yuchauan's coaching staff got an opportunity to look at the probable players for the national duty, the team got into the serious training mode with weekly camps in June. The Omani boys then underwent close to 40 days of rigorous training in July and August at home before shifting to Turkey for their foreign camp in their preparations for the Gulf Cup.

It was in Turkey that coach Qiao Yuchauan was able to fine-tune the players before the team returned to Muscat for another long camp at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. The coach then took his wards to his native country where they camped from October 14 to November 3, during which they played a number of friendlies against strong local sides.

Back in Muscat, the team trained till November 20 before travelling to Poland for a more important part of their preparations. In Poland, the squad got the opportunity to get the taste of European volleyball while playing practice matches against tough opponents. Though the team failed to impress at the Arab championships in Bahrain, the evaluation team formed by the OVA Chairman Mohammed bin Khamis al Farsi found the players have improved tremendously during the training programmes which were very successfully implemented. The China and Poland camps have been termed most fruitful. Now the Sultanate squad can take that confidence into the championship and not only repeat last edition's performance but go a step further and lift the crown.

Oman delegation: Mohammed bin Khamis al Farsi (head of the delegation), Khalid al Miqbali (team manager), Qiao Yuchauan (coach, China), Nasser al Miqbali (assistant coach), Hilal al Jabri (raptoire), Ali al Faris (physio), Amir al Miqbali (official). Players: Ra'ed al Hashmi, Saleh al Hamdani, Mohammed al Qamshoui, Mohammed al Shizawi, Ali al Alawi, Aiman Awlad Ahmed, Hilal al Isa'ee, Ibrahim al Muzaini, Saud al Ma'amari, Majid al Shizawi, Hilal al Miqbali, Abdullah Rajhi.