The UAE national ice hockey team survived against, rather than simply endured, an overly aggressive Mongolian squad to come out on top 3-2 and claim a spot in the finals of the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships, to be held in South Africa next year.

Juma Al Dhaheri opened the scoring 18 minutes into the excessively penalty-ridden match when during a fray where he was positioned behind the goal, he was lucky enough to have the puck hit and bounce off his stick and slip between the Mongol ‘keeper and net.

But early in the second period Mongolia equalised via Mishigsuren Namjil. Barely a minute had passed though when star player Mubarak Al Mazrouei responded for the hosts, sweetly tucking one into the corner of the net, and after a few just wide attempts, Mohamed Al Shamsi finally got his chance to power in the third.

The match looked to end 3-1 but in the dying minutes Tserenbaljir Baatarkhuu neatly chipped the puck into the UAE net.

UAE Head Coach Yuri Faikov audibly voiced his frustrations with the “disrespectfulness” of the opposition and said: “We have a tournament in Bangkok coming up. But who will play now? So many of our players were injured tonight that our doctor has a lot of work ahead.”

Manager Khalid Al Qubaisi added they planned to raise the matter in the next meeting. In response, Mongolian head coach Shinebayar Enkhbayar said: “In the Mongolian League we play like this. Besides, I also have injured players.”

In the earlier match, Greece trounced Georgia 13-0.

 

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