ICE HOCKEY – THE opening day of the first-ever women’s ice hockey tournament in Bahrain ended with favourites UAE heading the six-team table with nine points from three straight wins yesterday.
The historic Bahrain Ice Hockey Women’s Gathering, a two-day competition, is being hosted by the Bahrain Ice Hockey Club (BIHC) at a rink in a popular recreational spot in Manama and features teams from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Russia along with the UAE and hosts Bahrain in a round-robin league.
“We’re really proud to host the first-ever women’s ice hockey tournament here in the kingdom,” BIHC chairman Abdulla Al Qassimi told the GDN as the Bahrain and Kuwait teams lined up on the rink behind him for the seventh and final game of the day.
Al Qassimi, 41, played the sport competitively until 2014 when a serious injury forced him to take a break. He has devoted all his energy since then, he said, on the management of the BIHC – the only officially recognised ice hockey club in Bahrain – and on expanding the sport in the kingdom.
“We had a very long first day,” he added.
“There were seven games played in total between the six teams. Bahrain did exceptionally well, winning two out of three games. We beat the Russian and Saudi teams but lost to Kuwait in our final game of the day.
“But it was a fantastic occasion for all concerned. Everybody was having fun and it was nice to see girls from all across the Middle East as well as Russia competing in an ice hockey competition in Bahrain for the very first time.
“I’m particularly pleased with the way the Bahrain team performed considering our girls hadn’t been able to practice for the past seven months because of a lack of funds.”
The Bahrain team started the tournament with a solid 2-1 win over the Russian Pantera side in their opening game before overcoming the Saudi Wings, 4-1, in their second.
In their final game of the day, however, they came up against a superlative Kuwait Blue Waves side who dominated the game and led 5-0 until the dying moments when Bahrain scored a last-gasp goal that elicited as much applause from a large crowd as a winning strike would have in another match.
“There was a reason for this kind of reaction from the home fans,” Bahrain head coach Petr Dubsky told the GDN.
“As Abdulla said, our girls hadn’t trained for close to seven months and came into this tournament with just a couple of very recent practice sessions under their belt.
“The Kuwait team, however, is well-funded and is game-hardened and we knew that competing with them would be a tall ask so even that one goal at the end did, really feel like a small victory!”
Dubsky, 44, whose day job is as the general manager of the Diplomat Radisson Hotel, has been coaching both the Bahrain men’s and women’s teams since 2022.
“It is a great honour for me to have been able to coach and develop the game here,” he explained.
“There’s a great bunch of guys and girls here. They’ve welcomed me, taken me in, and we’re working together to promote the game, to show the local community that there are other sports in the world that can be done in Bahrain.”
Dubsky, who played ice hockey competitively until the age of 18 in his native Czech Republic, added that he felt it was his duty as an expat to give something back to his host country.
“It is great to be able to support the local community,” he said.
“You need to give something back as an expat!
“As for our performance, we did really well to beat Russia because they have a strong goalie so scoring two goals was a considerable achievement. The game against the Saudis was also tough but we prevailed ultimately.
“Now, we have to beat Oman in our first game today. If we manage that, we will be guaranteed a third-place finish. If we lose, however, we should finish fourth – which will still be pretty good, considering, as mentioned before, the lack of practice for our girls.
“The UAE, of course, should go on to win the tournament and should be followed in second place by Kuwait – who, incidentally, have also won two games and lost one, just like Bahrain by the end of the first day.”
Meanwhile, Bahrain assistant captain Massa Al Khatib told the GDN there was definitely a future for women’s ice hockey in the kingdom.
“This is such a unique and special sport,” she explained.
“Not everyone knows about it for now but there’s definitely a future for the sport, for us, in Bahrain.”
Al Khatib said she discovered the sport by accident when she came to the rink to skate a few years ago.
“I love ice skating and one day, when I was here, I saw a couple of girls getting ready to play ice hockey,” she continued.
“And thought to myself: I have to try this! So I called up the listed number and here I am, seven years later!”
When the Bahrain-Kuwait game was underway, a number of people had wandered over to the ice rink from a bowling alley housed on the same premises and immediately got completely involved in the match.
Among them was Mohammed Youssif, who works in real estate and had brought his wife and five children to the bowling alley to enjoy a fun weekend afternoon.
“We saw a couple of the teams entering the rink and my children wanted to see what was going on here,” he told the GDN, smiling down at his five-year-old daughter, Layla, who was jumping up and down to try and see the action in the game.
“Come here,” he said, picking her up and putting her on his shoulders.
“There … can you see now?” he asked.
His daughter replied in the affirmative, then exclaimed: “They’re girls, just like me! I want to play this game too!”
Her father laughed, encouragingly.
“Maybe, one day, you will,” he said.
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