Since the victory over the national team of the Republic of South Africa – 4:3 (1:1, 1:2, 1:1) Turkmen hockey players have started at the 27th Junior World Championship among players under the age of 18 in the third division of Group «B», which is being held at the Skenderia sports arena in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina Herzegovina).
The seventh-strongest tournament, held under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), brought together the six weakest ranked teams divided into two groups. Iceland, South Africa, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are in Group «A», while Turkmenistan, Thailand, and Luxembourg are in Group «B».
At the first stage of the tournament, each team will play three matches against opponents from the opposite group. Following the results of the group stage, the participants of the semi-finals will be determined: the team that took the first place in group «A» will face the second team of group «B», and the winner of group «B» will play with the silver medallist of Group «A». The winners of the semi-finals will compete for the gold medals of the tournament and a ticket to the third division of Group «A».
The national team of Turkmenistan at the U18 World Junior Championship is represented by 18 hockey players: goalkeepers Oraz Jepbarov and Annamammet Charshemov, defenders Serdarmyrat Yollyyev, Nuraly Rejepov, Aymyrat Amanmedov, Rustam Omurov, Kyyas Ustayev, Ruslan Buriyev, Alexander Kochetkov and Yhlas Seyitliyev, as well as forwards Dayanch Batyrov, Yaroslav Davletchin, Kerimberdi Saparmyradov, Rovshen Archayev, Hezretali Mammedov Bagtyyar Bashimov, Davut Adylov and Daniyar Konkujayev.
Prior to this match, the junior national teams of Turkmenistan and South Africa had met twice at the U18 World Championships. And in both meetings, the Turkmen teams confidently prevailed: at the 2024 World Championship in Cape Town – 6:2, and at the 2025 World Championship in Bangkok - 18:7.
This time, victory did not come so easily for our hockey players. In the 10th minute, they took the lead thanks to the efforts of the captain of the team Dayanch Batyrov, who realised the majority. However, the opponents went to the break with the score 1-1 – Duvan van der Merwe regained his balance 38 seconds before the end of the first period, realising a numerical advantage.
In the second period, Azatgeldi Bashimov team took the lead – 2:1 after an accurate shot in the 28th minute by Rovshen Archayev. And on the 35th, we increased the advantage to two goals thanks to the majority realised by Hezretali Mammedov. It seemed that after that, the Turkmen hockey players would easily bring the match to victory. But that was not the case. In the last minute of the second period, Duvan van der Merwe scored a double and reduced the gap to a minimum – 2:3.
At the beginning of the final period, Joshua Anker equalised in the 44th minute, returning the intrigue to the match. His denouement came 4 minutes before the final whistle, when the South African national team was followed by the removal of Riley Paulsen for 2 minutes. The coaches of our team took a time-out, after which Dayanch Batyrov realised a numerical majority for the second time in this match and snatched a victory over his opponent – 4:3.
Defenders were recognised as the best players in this match: Riley Paulsen in the South African team, and Serdarmyrat Yollyyev in the Turkmenistan national team.
In the next round, the Turkmen hockey players met with their peers from Iceland, who defeated Luxembourg in the opening game. – 12:1 (2:0, 4:0, 6:1). It was the first match in the history of Turkmen hockey against the Icelanders, who have extensive experience in the international arena, participating in the junior world championships since 1999.
The first period was reserved for the Icelandic hockey players, who scored before the break in the 17th second of the match Elvar Skulason, in the 10th minute Ymir Garcia Haflidason and in the 18th minute Mikael Eiriksson, who was recognised as the best player in their squad.
In the second period, the Icelanders scored twice more: first, in the 33rd minute, Ymir Garcia Haflidason scored a double, and 22 seconds before leaving for the second break, Aron Gautason scored the puck. Between these goals, Rovshen Archayev, recognised as the best player of the match in the national team of Turkmenistan, soaked the score in the 35th minute.
In the third period, which was replete with nine clearances – five in the team of Iceland and four in ours, the opponents could not hit each goal of other.
In this way, having suffered the first defeat with the score 1:5 (0:3, 1:2, 0:0), After two rounds with 3 points, Turkmen hockey players occupy the second place in Group «B» and retain their chances of reaching the semi-finals. The leaders in this group are the Thai juniors with 6 points, who after two confident victories over their peers Bosnia and Herzegovina. – 12:3 (4:0, 2:2, 6:1) and South Africa – 4:2 (2:0, 1:1, 1:1) secured ahead of schedule a place in the quartet.
In Group «A», the hockey players of Iceland made it to the semi-finals ahead of schedule, with a maximum of 6 points after two rounds. The second position in this group with 2 points is occupied by the Bosnia and Herzegovina team, which in a very tough match snatched victory in overtime from the Luxembourg team - 7:6 (5:0, 0:3, 1:3, OT: 1:0). The Luxembourgers complete the standings in group «B» with 1 point, and in group «A» the last place is occupied by the South African hockey players, who have no points after two rounds.
The final composition of the semi-finalists will be determined based on the results of the final group matches. The teams of South Africa and Luxembourg will be the first to enter the ice arena in the third round. Then the group leaders, the teams of Iceland and Thailand, will play against each other. The third game day of the world Championship will end with a meeting of the juniors of Turkmenistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
