The hockey players of the junior national team of Turkmenistan won silver medals in the third division of group "B" at the Junior World Championship among players under the age of 18, which was held in Cape Town (South Africa) with the participation of four teams.
The fate of the prizes and the winner of the tournament, who received the right to compete at the World Cup next year in the higher-ranked group "A" of the third division, was decided on the final day of the competition. Before the last round, three teams claimed the first place in Group B – the Hong Kong national team (6 points) and the juniors of Turkmenistan and Thailand, who were 3 points behind it.
In the first match, the Thai national team unexpectedly won against the undefeated Hong Kong team – 3:1 (1:1, 1:0, 1:0). Hockey players from Turkmenistan and South Africa followed into the arena of the Ice Station.
Before this game, the Turkmen team crushed the Thai national team – 7:2 and lost to the Hong Kong team – 3:8. And the hosts of the tournament – the South Africans – lost both meetings heavily, having suffered defeats from Hong Kong – 1:11 and Thailand – 2:12.
In the 9th minute of the match, Allan Mukhyev opened the scoring with a wrist shot. 44 seconds after the start of the second period, Duvan van der Merwe, having realized the numerical majority, leveled the position – 1:1.
At the end of the 24th minute, Sultanhamit Vakhitov, going one-on-one with the goalkeeper, led the Turkmen team ahead - 2:1. Less than three minutes later, two South African hockey players rolled out on one defender of our national team, and Naom Levin restored balance – 2:2.
In the 33rd minute, the wards of Guvanch Dzheparov took the lead again, realizing the numerical majority. Shokhrat Begliev scored the third goal against the South African national team from the feed of Alikhan Aleskerov.
In the final period, only Turkmen hockey players scored. At first, our compatriots were able to score in the minority due to the removal of Dayanch Batyrov for 2 minutes. In the 42nd minute, Allan Mukhyev entered the opponent's zone and, with a wrist shot to his right, increased the advantage of the Turkmen team to 4:2. And then Iskenderhan Durdiyev took the double. In the 47th minute, he hit the goal with a wrist shot, and 28 seconds before the final siren he turned out to be quicker on the heel, setting the final score – 6:2 in favor of the national team of Turkmenistan.
After the game, the expert jury named the best players of the match. These were: defender Dayan Kamish in the South African national team, and captain Allan Mukhyev in the Turkmenistan team.
Michael Si Kam Ngan (Hong Kong) was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the tournament, Man Hin Tommy Koot (Hong Kong) was the defender, and Tananutch Kultanthorn (Thailand) was the striker.
According to the results of the tournament, the national teams of Hong Kong, Turkmenistan and Thailand scored 6 points each. However, according to the best goal difference between these teams, the first place, and with it the only ticket to Group A, went to the juniors of Hong Kong for the first time since their debut in 2014 in Group B.
The Turkmen hockey players who made their debut at the Junior World Championship (U18) were content with second place and now in 2025 they will again play in the lowest-ranked group "B" of the third division.
At the award ceremony, the Turkmen team was awarded silver medals and a commemorative trophy for the 2nd place in the third division of group B of the 2024 Junior World Cup.
Recall that the national team of Turkmenistan at the World Junior Championship (U18) was represented by 20 young hockey players from the Galkan clubs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Shir of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations and Oguzkhan of the State Concern Turkmengaz.
The bronze medals went to the juniors of Thailand for the second year in a row. And the hockey players of the Republic of South Africa finished in last place for the third year in a row.
