The first victory was won by the hockey players of the national team of Turkmenistan at the world championship held in Cape Town in the third division of group «A». In the second round of the competition, our compatriots beat the Luxembourg team - 4:1.
Both teams had an unsuccessful start in the tournament: in the first round, the national team of Turkmenistan, winning after the first period - 3:0, lost to the team of South Africa - 6:9, and the hockey players of Luxembourg with a devastating score of 2:10 lost to rivals from Thailand. And so, the full-time duel between them was important.
Prior to this, the hockey teams of Turkmenistan and Luxembourg met twice at the world championships. In 2019, the Turkmen team celebrated the victory at the world championship in Sofia - 4:3, and last year the Luxembourgers took revenge at the home world championship, having achieved success only in overtime - 5:4.
In the third confrontation between the rivals, Arslan Nuryyev, who was recognized as the best player of the match in the team of Turkmenistan, opened the scoring in the 9th minute, having converted a numerical majority.
In the second period, at the 29th minute, Pavel Barkovskiy doubled the lead. And in the 32nd minute, when the Luxembourg national team was again in the minority due to the removal of Claude Mossong for 2 minutes, Arslan Geldimyradov increased the advantage to 3:0, correcting the puck on the penny into the net after a throw from the blue line of Amangeldi Aganyyazov.
At the end of the 33rd minute, Colm Cannon, right in front of Rahman Myradov's goal, intercepted the puck from our defender and soaked the score with a wrist throw - 3:1.
A minute and a half before the end of the second period, Dovlet Hydyrov converted a numerical majority with a powerful throw from the blue line, and the teams went to the second break with the score 4:1 in favour of Turkmenistan.
In the final 20 minutes, the result of the game did not change.
At the end of the match, in honour of the victory of our hockey players, the anthem of Turkmenistan was played under the arches of the «Ice Station» arena in Cape Town.
With this victory, in the event of the defeat of the Luxembourg team in the remaining matches, the national team of Turkmenistan secured itself from relegation to the lower-class group «B» of the third division.
Five teams are fighting for a ticket to the stronger second division of group «B» at the world championship in Cape Town: Luxembourg, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkmenistan and South Africa.
The results of two more meetings held: Thailand - Taiwan - 2:11, Taiwan - South Africa - 6:1.
In this way, after two rounds, Taiwan leads the championship with a 100% score - 6 points. Turkmenistan, Thailand and South Africa have 3 points each. Closes the standings Luxembourg, which has no points yet.
In the next round, Bayram Allayarov's wards will play with the team of Thailand.
20 hockey players play for the national team of Turkmenistan at the World Championship in South Africa, 18 of which represent the «Galkan» club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 2 - «Shir» of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations.
