Manama, Nov. 7 (BNA): UTSC of Oman were crowned champions of the Kingdom of Bahrain Open Six-A-Side Hockey Championship.

The Omani-based team defeated Qatari Wanderers 2-0 to claim the title. UTSC and Qatari Wanderers earlier made it to the final after respective victories over the Ministry of Interior and Kuwait Hockey with an identical score of 3-1.

Interestingly, Sixty nine-year-old UTSC team skipper Darwish Hamdan had lived in Bahrain in Gudaibiya in the 1960s and played for one of the local hockey clubs before returning to Oman in the mid-1980s.

Hosted by the St. Christopher’s Senior School in Isa Town, 12 teams from Bahrain and the GCC competed for the tournament trophy.

Teams taking part include six from Bahrain and six from other GCC Countries. They were divided into four pools of three teams.

Bahraini teams included Bahrain Falcons, Bahrain Hawks, Hungry Hamours, Ministry of Interior, Wizards and Young Stars, while the remaining six squads were UTSC and Oman Veterans of Oman, Saudi Arabia’s Dadabhai Saudi, Dubai Republicans of the UAE, Kuwait Hockey of Kuwait and Wanderers of Qatar.

This day-long tournament was organized by the Bahrain Hockey Association and is under the patronage of Bahrain Olympic Committee general secretary Abdulrahman Askar, who honored the winners at the prize-giving ceremony after the final match.

The event was also attended by special guest Jude Felix, a world cup Indian captain, Asian games champions’ trophy player and a global hockey icon, who have over 250 caps for India.
The tournament was conducted by International umpire RV Raghu Prasad of India, who recently received the golden whistle for umpiring 100 senior international matches.