Published on 30.01.2024
Oman, Netherlands, Egypt, and Trinidad and Tobago finished top of their respective pools at the men’s FIH Hockey5s World Cup in Oman on Monday as the quarter-final line-ups were finalized.
The Dutch were the only side to have booked their spot in the top-eight after the opening day’s action, but the seven remaining teams safely negotiated their way through on the final day of pool matches with Poland, Egypt, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, Oman and Malaysia all progressing.
Once the pool games came to an end, the first playoff matches of the Challenger Trophy, for those teams not making it through to the quarter-finals, took place with victories for Pakistan, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand.
In the quarterfinals, Oman will meet Pool C runner-up Kenya on Tuesday. The East African nation finished behind Trinidad & Tobago in the pool with two wins and one loss (six points).
The Caribbean nation topped the pool with two wins and one draw (seven points). They will take on Pool D runner-up Malaysia for a place in the semifinals.
Egypt with three wins in Pool B was the topper with nine points and were followed by India with six points. India will take on Pool A leader the Netherlands in the quarterfinals while Egypt will meet Poland in the other quarterfinals.
The Dutch were the only other team besides Egypt to march into the quarterfinals with an all-win record in the pool stage.
On Monday, the day’s action began with India walloping Jamaica 13-0 and Egypt keeping their 100 percent win record with a dominating 9-1 win over Switzerland in Pool B.
Both the Pool A matches were well-fought and the Netherlands struggled to get past Nigeria 8-6 and Poland edged past Pakistan 8-7 in a thriller to confirm their last-eight spot.
In Pool D, Malaysia outplayed Fiji 8-3 to secure their spot in the last eight while Oman emerged winners against the USA.
In Pool C Kenya were 7-4 winners over Australia while Trinidad & Tobago recorded an easy 11-4 win over New Zealand to complete the pool engagements and confirm the quarterfinal line-up.
Quarterfinals lineup: Oman vs Kenya, Netherlands vs India, Egypt vs Poland, Trinidad & Tobago vs Malaysia.
