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The championships were to be held in Riga and Minsk from May 21 to June 6, but due to the unstable political situation, the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) decided on Monday to cancel part of the championship in Belarus.
How to change Minsk is currently the main puzzle for the leadership of the IIHF.
One option is to concentrate all the priorities in Latvia. And if the neighbors need help, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Linas Obcarskas, says that Lithuania is ready to provide it.
“We have had that idea since last month. Lithuania has offered to contribute something if the Latvians seem to need that help. Now we will simply approve this initiative and if the Latvians ask for it, they can surely trust us.
We are now coordinating positions in both the Ministry and the Lithuanian Hockey Association. They confirmed that they have administrative and other resources to help Latvians. “This is a very hot topic, we are responding quickly, but so far it remains an initiative that has not been turned into concrete commitments.” Delphi L. Obcarsk said.
According to the deputy minister, the fights between one of the two groups of the first stage of the championship could be organized in Lithuania. Both Vilnius and Kaunas have already hosted lower world championship tournaments in the past.
“The distance between Riga and Vilnius or Kaunas is certainly not great, which is important considering the COVID-19 situation. Also, Lithuanians have practice in preparing hockey preferences, we have good stadiums. It would be difficult only for the Latvians as they only have the Riga stadium. Another temporary one would be needed, which is expensive and technically difficult, “explained L. Obcarskas.
In 2006, when the World Championship was held in Latvia for the first time, together with the Riga Arena, the Skonto Manege was used, where a temporary hockey field was installed. Due to the large temperature differences in the sand and outdoors in late spring, such a solution was not technically simple at all.
However, Lithuania’s name is not mentioned in IIHF meetings so far; Such information was relayed to the Secretary General of the Lietuva Hockey Association by Vaidas Budrauskas on Tuesday by colleagues from Latvia.
“Currently, three options are being considered: Latvia can either host the championship with Denmark, with Slovakia or take on the full load alone. According to Latvians currently present in Switzerland and participating in those meetings, the IIHF does not plan to consider any other option, as less for now. ” Delphi said V. Budrauskas.
According to him, to prepare for the organization of the world championship in four months, it would be necessary to suffer from headaches.
Previously, Lietuva Hockey tournaments were more modest: fewer teams, fewer matches, quality standards and simpler technical requirements. In addition, this time it will be necessary to apply the COVID-19 security protocol, with which Lithuanians are not yet familiar.
“Both Denmark and Slovakia are probably mentioned in the first place because there were recent championships there, they already know everything. The Elite World Championship is a great event, two or three times more complicated than ours,” said V. Budrauskas.
At the end of last year, when doubts arose about whether the championship would take place as planned in Minsk, IIHF President René Fasel was the first to go to Russia, who immediately offered to take over the organization of the Belarus competition.
However, on Tuesday, Fasel already rejected such a scenario. The reason is the sanctions imposed on Russia by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which should not lead to any international sporting events in that country for the next two years.
“The President of the Russian Federation, Vladislav Tretyak, proposed to organize part of the tournament in St. Petersburg. We were waiting for the final verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport; when the WADA sanctions were approved, this option disappeared,” explained Faselis.
We remind you that 16 teams are participating in the elite world championship, the title of the winners will be defended by Finland this year.
Last year, planetary priorities in Switzerland failed due to a coronavirus pandemic.
Lithuania has already organized four lower division hockey world championships: in 2018 in Kaunas and in 2014 in Vilnius Group IB fights, in 2009 also in the capital – Group IA competitions, and in 2004 in Elektrėnai Group IIB played.
The following March, Kaunas had to accept the participants of the lowest division of the women’s world championship – III -, but the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.
The Lithuanian men’s team is ranked 23rd in the IIHF ranking.
In 2019, the Lithuanians led by Dainius Zubra in Kazakhstan struggled in the second AI ability group, but remained last and returned to the IB subgroup. Subsequently, the actions in the international arena were interrupted by the coronavirus.
In turn, the Latvian national team has been constantly competing with the strongest teams on the planet since 1997. The best performance of the neighbors is seventh (three times (1997, 2004 and 2009)).
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