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IIHF President R. Faselis announced on Thursday that his organization will not consider Lithuania among the options to replace Minsk and host part of the World Cup fights when it makes this decision next week.
Speaking with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrid Šimonytė on Thursday morning, the Swiss praised Lithuania’s efforts, but focused on other countries: Latvia, which is considering hosting the championship alone, and Slovakia and Denmark, who would like to take part in Minsk and hold the championship together with Riga.
“I had a video conference with the Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonyte. First of all, I am very grateful to the Lithuanian government for their willingness to help. We have already spoken with Bratislava, Riga, Denmark. Denmark and Bratislava already have a good experience in the organizing such tournaments in 2018 and 2019. I really appreciate the efforts of the Lithuanians, but in this case it doesn’t make sense to have a lot of candidates, ”R. Fasselis told the Russian news agency TASS.
I really appreciate the efforts of the Lithuanians, but in this case it does not make sense to have many candidates
15 minutes After the information appeared, D. Zubra asked if he had already received information about the IIHF’s final decision on the Lithuanian proposal.
“I haven’t heard that answer yet,” replied one of the greatest Lithuanian hockey players of all time. – But Fassel told us in the interview that other options are more convenient for them. We have not been specifically told that we are closing this issue. We suggest that if you need, we could help you. It wasn’t our event here, but with COVID-19, with all the downsides, we logistically said we were next. We have everything: a stadium, hotels, we did a championship in 2018 (IB group world championship, in which the Lithuanian national team also played, aut.past.), Which was a great success. We said if you needed us, we would help you. “
Eriko Ovcharenko / 15min nuotr./Rungtynių akimirka
Although Lithuania will probably not have to organize a high-level hockey event, D. Zubrus has a positive view of the situation.
“We said everything we wanted to say. We offer our help. I was very pleased that the conversation took place at the highest level, with the participation of our Government. I think Fasel himself was satisfied with that attention. This is also good for the sport of hockey in Lithuania. We gave what we could and said that if they needed it, we would help them ”, assured D. Zubrus.
Sigismund Gedvila / 15min photo / Dainius Zubrus
According to him, both the Latvians and the representatives of the IIHF would like the championship to take place only in Riga.
This would require the construction of a temporary arena at Skonto manege, as an arena in Riga would not be enough, and ice dumped on the temporary building during the May 21-June 6 tournament would threaten the heat.
But even more important than this factor could be the logistical and security factors, with the 16 teams gathered in one city and forming a “bubble” similar to those “inflated” by the NHL, NBA and other North American sports leagues at the end of last year.
“Latvians are the ones who support themselves the most, they want to do everything themselves,” said D. Zubrus. – Fasell said that maybe it would be even more comfortable to watch the NHL or others so that everyone would be together to be in control. That is also understandable. Any decision, I haven’t heard what they decided yet. “
Latvians want to do everything themselves.
According to Fasel, the final decision on the hosts of the World Cup should be made on January 26 or 27.
We recall that, according to the initial version, the tournament was to be organized by Minsk together with Riga, but after some sponsors threatened to stop supporting hockey if the planetary championships were held in Alexander Lukashenko, the IIHF had no more The remedy is to deprive Belarus of the event and seek other alternatives.
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