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There are the common sights in Qatar and there are the uncommon ones. Football, basketball or even cricket is common. What’s relatively rare is the sight of people playing ice hockey. Yes, ice hockey in the desert. While it seems like a contradiction, the sport is growing in the country with many locals and expats getting attracted to it. |
And the ice hockey fans were treated to some great action during the 9th CNA-Q Desert Cup tournament held from February 27 to March 1 held at the Gondolania Ice Rink in Villaggio Mall. Yesterday was the final of the tournament which saw the Dubai Camels being crowned Desert Cup champions after they defeated the local favourites CNA-Q Breakers B in a penalty shootout.
It was a thrilling battle with the Camels leading 4-1 until the start of the third quarter. The Breakers then staged a remarkable comeback and scored three goals, with the equaliser coming just one minute before the final whistle was blown.
The local team also got a great chance in overtime but couldn’t convert. The momentum was with the Breakers going into the shootout but they missed all their three chances while the Camels converted one of their chances to become champions.
The tournament saw teams from the Gulf Co-operation Council nations which meant that it had, apart from Qatar, players from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia and Germany.
That the ice rink is in the middle of a mall makes for an interesting sight in itself. You are walking along, dazzled by the fancy shops and wondering what to eat when suddenly you are awakened from your trance by the sight of a player being slammed into the boards on the ice rink. It is truly an amazing spectacle for those watching, especially for people who have never watched an ice hockey game before.
For the players themselves, it is way of connecting with their roots back home for some, while for the others it is just playing a sport they could have never imagined being a part of.
“This country is hot and the game is cold. This paradox makes the game interesting for me,” said Naif al-Rumaihi who plays for Qatar Oryx, Qatar’s national ice hockey team. The 20-year-old al-Rumaihi started with skating and then graduated to ice hockey.
“I started as a skater and then five years ago I got hooked to ice hockey and I have been a player since,” he said after his team finished with a consolation trophy in the Desert Cup.
“More and more Qataris are coming into the game. And soon we will have a new ice hockey stadium in the Al Sadd sports complex. That will help the popularity of the sport immensely,” added al-Rumaihi.
And it’s not just Qatar, other desert countries are also taking up the sport. Oman is one of them and Hadi al-Musaidi who plays for the national team says the sport’s popularity is on the rise in his country.
“I started playing the game because of my Canadian friends in 2007. Back then we had about 5-6 Omanis taking part and now we have 36 players in the national team,” he said yesterday.
When asked what attracted him to the game, he had a straight-forward answer. “This game is all about technique. If you are stupid you cannot play this game. You need to be smart. It’s also a tough sport and we like tough sports.”
In Qatar, the Qatar International Ice Hockey League (QIIHL) is responsible for the growing popularity of the sport in the country and according to Darcy Webster, Chief of QIIHL, it is going to increase quite a bit.
“Ice hockey is growing as a sport in Qatar. Six years ago we started with one division and five teams. Today we have three divisions and nine teams. And next year, one or two teams will be added. This year was also the first time that the Qatari national team, the Qatar Oryx played as a team in this competition,” said Webster after the finals yesterday.
The venue, an ice rink right in the middle of a mall, is also largely responsible for the sport becoming more popular, feels Webster. “The fact that they are playing in a shopping mall where there is a lot of visibility helps.
“If we were to play in a stand-alone stadium, we would not have a lot of fans. The more people see it the more people get interested. When they see their national players out on the ice, they get interested in the sport. There is no problem when it comes to recruiting players,” Webster said.
Webster is confident that Qatar will become the hub for ice hockey in the region. “Currently Dubai hosts the biggest ice hockey tournament in this part of the world but in five years’ time, Qatar will have the biggest tournament,” he said.
For Webster, personally, to be able to play the sport is one of the reasons he is in Qatar. “If it weren’t for hockey I wouldn’t be here in Qatar. If you can play hockey you can feel normal.”