The International Hockey Federation has disqualified Qatar’s national team as a contender for the Asian Champions Trophy after the proper paperwork for some players was not filed on time, according to local media reports.

All matches played by the Qatar Hockey Federation during round one of the recent World Hockey League tournament from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2 have been voided, with the FIH already removing the stats from its official website.

And Qatar, which had placed second, will not move on to the next round. At third, Oman will take the team’s place in round two.

Malaysian coach Shaiful Azli called the ordeal “an opportunity missed” for his young team, Gulf Times reports:

“It is a huge blow to say the least. The boys are very upset and so am I. But what can be done. My job is to work with the team; I’m not involved with anything else. It is disheartening but let’s hope things will fall into place and such problems will not happen,” said Azli adding that, the team can still continue taking part in other tournaments.

An official told Doha Stadium Plus that the team has taken up the matter with the Qatar Olympic Committee, which was responsible for submitting the paperwork. 

“Hopefully, such an unfortunate situation won’t happen in future,” QHF General Secretary Mohammed Abdul Nazer said.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo courtesy of Qatar Hockey Federation on Facebook