A notable event in the national sports calendar in April was the visit to Ashgabat of hockey players from the Kazan club «Ak Bars», led by three-time world champion, the only five-time winner of the Gagarin Cup Danis Zaripov. Thanks to the fruitful cooperation of the Hockey Federation of Turkmenistan with the above-mentioned HC from the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation, Turkmen sports fans have the opportunity to get to know representatives of the world-famous Kazan hockey school.
As Danis Zaripov told to «GA» correspondent, the purpose of such cooperation of HC «Ak Bars» is to share experience and help the hockey players of the national team of Turkmenistan play at a high level and win international tournaments.
To this end, together with the coaching staff from Kazan, promising young hockey players flew to Ashgabat, who have already tried their hand at the KHL as part of the main team of the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation and promise to grow into real masters in the near future. Among them are goalkeeper Vyacheslav Peksa and defense and attack players Lev Starikov, Ivan Mehovov, Nikolay Averin, Ruslan Galimzyanov.
During a week-long stay in the Turkmen capital, hockey players from the system of the Kazan club «Ak Bars» held a joint training camp with the national team of Turkmenistan and held a training match with it on the ice arena of the Winter Sports Complex in preparation for the upcoming championship of the world in South Africa on the 17th to 23rd of April in the third division of group «A». At the same time, the guest team was strengthened by the legendary Danis Zaripov, who, at 42, demonstrated an unfading athletic form, chalking up a goal and an assist.
And in the national team of Turkmenistan, one of the heroes of the match was Begench Dovletmyradov, who scored a goal against «Ak Bars» at the suggestion of Arslan Geldymyradov.
«I beat one player, gave a pass to a penny, and Begench had no choice but to send the puck into the goal», -said Arslan Geldymyradov after the match.
The friendly match ended with a friendly handshake between the opponents and a group photo as a keepsake.
And after that, the spectators did not let the world hockey legend Danis Zaripov leave the ice arena for a long time, who did not refuse any of the spectators who came to the match to take a picture with him and give an autograph as a keepsake.
«This is my first time in Ashgabat, a beautiful city. And the 10 thousand - seat arena of the Winter Sports Complex is convenient and quite worthy of hosting the biggest world-class tournaments» - said D. Zaripov.
Sharing his impressions about the level of training of the hockey team of Turkmenistan on the eve of the upcoming world championship in South Africa, Danis Zinnurovich noted the great desire of our guys and their great return on the ice.
«You can't teach anyone to play better in a short period of time. We laid the foundation for the hockey players of the national team of Turkmenistan, gave them the necessary information, which they now have to use in training. But the most important thing that caught my eye was the great desire of the guys, their great return on the ice. And this most important factor, I think, can lead to a worthy result», - emphasized Danis Zaripov.
Remind that joint training camps with hockey players from the system of the Kazan club «Ak Bars» were aimed at preparing for the upcoming World Championship in Cape Town next week, in which 5 teams will fight for a ticket to the second division of group «B»: Luxembourg, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkmenistan and South Africa.
The first game of the national team of Turkmenistan will be held on the 17th of April against the hosts of the championship - the team of South Africa. On the 18th of April, Bayram Allayarov's wards will play with Luxembourg, on the 20th of April - with Thailand and will end the tournament on the 23rd of April with a match with Taiwan.
Remind that Turkmen hockey players are two-time winners of bronze medals of the world championship in the third division of group «A». The last time they achieved this achievement was last year at the World Championships in Luxembourg.
