The Turkmen hockey players started the Junior World Championship among players under 18 years of age in the third division of Group «B», which is taking place in Bangkok (Thailand), with a major victory over the Luxembourg team – 8:2 (1:0, 3:2, 4:0).

The seventh-strongest tournament, held under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), brought together six of the weakest teams in terms of rank. Juniors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and South Africa are competing for a ticket to the third division of Group «A» in a single-round competition.

The Turkmenistan national team at the U18 World Junior Championship is represented by 19 hockey players from three clubs: 13 from the «Shir» club of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, 4 from the «Galkan» club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and 2 from the «Oguzhan» club of the «Turkmengaz» State Concern.

In the opening match of the Turkmenistan national team, nothing initially foreshadowed a crushing victory over Luxembourg. The first two periods were a tough fight. Iskenderhan Durdyyev from the «Shir» club opened the scoring in the 11th minute, and the teams went into the first break with a minimal advantage for our hockey players – 1:0.

In the 27th minute, the captain of the Luxembourg team, Leopold Toft, scored a goal back. Three minutes later, Sultanhamit Vahitov from the «Galkan» club, having realized the majority, put the Turkmenistan team ahead – 2:1. In the 34th minute, he also realized a penalty shot and increased the advantage of the Turkmen team to two goals. 18 seconds later, Richard D'Andrea again reduced the gap to a minimum – 3:2. In the 37th minute, Sultanhamit Vahitov scored another goal, and the opponents went into the second break with a score of 4:2 in favour of the Turkmenistan national team. 

The final 20 minutes passed with a noticeable advantage of our compatriots, who threw four more goals into the Luxembourg goal - the next three were scored by Sultanhamit Vahitov, who scored a hexa-trick (6 goals) in this match, and another one was scored by the team captain Shohrat Begliyev from the «Galkan» club.

At the end of the match, the anthem of Turkmenistan was played under the roof of the International Ice Arena in Bangkok in honour of the victory of our hockey players.

The best players of the match were: in the Turkmenistan team - goalkeeper Armen Movsesyan from the «Shir» club, and in the Luxembourg team - forward Adam Chlumecki.

In the next round, the Turkmen hockey players will play with the Thai team, which in the first round caused a real rout of the Bosnia and Herzegovina team - 16:0 (4:0, 5:0, 7:0). In another match of the first game day, the representatives of Uzbekistan inflicted a major defeat on the South African team - 12:0 (4:0, 6:0, 2:0).

In the first two matches of the 2nd round today, the Bosnia and Herzegovina team won against the South African team – 4:3 (0:1, 3:1, 1:1), and the Uzbekistan hockey players won their second victory in the tournament, beating their peers from Luxembourg – 12:1 (7:1, 2:0, 3:0).

The World Junior Championship U18 is held according to a system divided into 4 divisions – TOP division, 1, 2 and 3. Each division holds an independent tournament. There is an annual rotation of teams between the divisions – the best teams move to a higher division, the worst ones drop to a lower one. The winner of the tournament in the TOP division is declared the world champion.

 Turkmen hockey players are participating in competitions of this level for the second time, for which they prepared under the leadership of Meylis Kuliyev and his assistants - Maksat Atayev and Azatgeldi Bashimov.

Last year, at the U18 World Championship in Cape Town (South Africa), the junior team of Turkmenistan, led by Guvanch Jepbarov and Maksat Atayev, took second place in Group «B» among four teams, losing first place to the Hong Kong hockey players, who won a ticket to Group «A».