Muscat: Leandro Negre, the president of International Hockey Federation (IHF) will arrive in Muscat today. Negre who will be the special guest for the Arab Hockey Club Championship final tomorrow will be received by Oman Hockey Association (OHA) officials at the Muscat International Airport at 10am.
Speaking to Times Sport yesterday, Redha Taqi Al Lawati said Negre is also expected to meet Sheikh Sa'ad bin Mohammed Al Mardhouf Al Sa'adi, minister of sports affairs, later in the evening. "We are quite excited about Negre's arrival. He will be talking to several high level officials including the Minister of Sports Affairs," Redha said.
The nine-day tournament which began on March 10 has participation from six clubs from four countries including host Oman. According to Redha, Negre's arrival in Muscat could further bolster the relations between OHA and IHF. "We have some ambitious plans for this sport here and we will be discussing it with the IHF boss when he arrives and I am sure we can further strengthen our good relations with IHF," he said.
Meanwhile, the scheduled Arab Hockey Confederation (AHC) general body meeting and board election will be held tomorrow from 9am to 12pm at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher.
"It was decided by the board to have the election on Sunday and all preparations are underway to have the smooth conduct of the election," he added.
Mahfoodh Al Juma, the OHA chairman, is the lone candidate for the AHF election from Oman. Juma will contest for the post of first vice-president of AHC. The general assembly will be attended by members from the seven AHF nations - Oman, UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Morocco.
Al Sharqiyah in final
Hot favourites from Egypt Al Sharqiyah Club confirmed their berth in the final of the Arab Clubs Hockey Championship underway at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. However, the other finalists are yet to be determined.
Al Sharqiyah garnered 13 points and emerged as the sole leader in the round-robin pool.
Meanwhile, Al Ittihad of UAE beat Oman's Al Nasr 2-0 yesterday to have 11 points from 5 matches. However, Ahli-Sidab sure of win in a late match against Libya's Al Najm will also tie with Al Ittihad on points.
In that case, there will be a shoot out today between the two teams to decide the finalist.