Turkmen hockey players started the World Junior Championship among players under 18 years of age in the third division of Group B, which takes place in Cape Town (South Africa), with a major victory over the Thai national team – 7:2.
Held under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament brought together four teams. Juniors from Hong Kong, Thailand, Turkmenistan and South Africa are competing for a place in the third division of Group A in the one-round competition.
A year ago, the junior teams of Turkmenistan and Thailand already met each other in Ulaanbaatar at the first Asian and Oceania Championship among players under 18 years of age. Then our compatriots achieved a hard victory – 4:3.
This time the opening match was very successful for the Turkmenistan team. Already in the second minute of the game, Serdar Durdyev opened the scoring, becoming the author of the first goal of the 2024 Junior World Cup in South Africa. In the 10th minute, Elman Isaev scored another goal and the opponents went into the first break with the score 2:0 in favor of our team.
In the second period, the Thais responded to two goals by Serdar Durdyev (31st and 39th minutes) with an accurate shot from Tananutch Kultantkhorn (35th) and the advantage of the Turkmenistan national team before the second break grew to 4:1.
In the final period, Turkmen hockey players continued to dominate on the ice. In the 42nd minute, Serdar Durdyev scored the first poker of the tournament, scoring his fourth goal against the Thai team. Two minutes later, Tananutch Kultantkhorn, having converted the majority, scored another goal. After that, at the end of the 47th minute, Perman Shamuhammedov and at the 49th minute, Shohrat Begliev scored two more goals into the opponent’s goal, setting the final score.
Serdar Durdyev in the Turkmenistan national team and Tananutch Kultantkhorn – the scorer of the double in the Thailand team were recognized as the best players of the match.
In another match of the first match day, the Hong Kong team defeated the South African team – 11:1 (3:1, 5:0, 3:0). The best players in this meeting were recognized in the Hong Kong team – defender Man Hin Tommy Kut, and in the South African team – goalkeeper Nico Janse Van Rensburg.
Turkmen hockey players will play their next match against the Hong Kong team.
The Turkmenistan national team at the Junior World Championship (U18) is represented by 20 young hockey players from the Galkan club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Shir club of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations and Oguzkhan club of the Turkmengas State Concern.
For Turkmen juniors, this is their debut at competitions of such rank, which our hockey players prepared for under the leadership of Guvanch Jeparov and Maksat Ataev.
