The national hockey team of Turkmenistan secured its first victory at the ongoing World Championship in Division III Group A in Bishkek. In the second round of the competition, our compatriots defeated the South African team with a score of 4:3.
Both teams had a mixed start in the tournament: in the first round, the South African team defeated the Mexican team with a score of 6:3 (3:1, 1:2, 2:0), while the Turkmenistan hockey players lost to Luxembourg with a score of 3:4 (0:2, 2:0, 1:2), conceding the decisive goal in the last minute in the minority. Therefore, the face-to-face match between them was of great importance.
Prior to this, the hockey teams of Turkmenistan and South Africa met twice at the World Championships as national teams. In 2019, the Turkmenistan team celebrated victory at the world championship in Sofia with a score of 7:2, and last year the South Africans took revenge at the home World Championship, winning with a score of 9:6.
In the third confrontation between the opponents, Arslan Nuryev opened the scoring in the 2nd minute. Three minutes later, Erkin Kakabaev doubled the advantage. Jean-Michel van Doesburgh scored a goal for South Africa in the 14th minute, and the teams went to the first break with a score of 2:1 in favor of the Turkmenistan national team.
At the end of the 25th minute, Arslan Nuryev scored his second goal, increasing the advantage to two goals - 3:1. However, in the 31st minute, Jean-Michel van Doesburgh also scored a double, reducing the gap to a minimum - 2:3.
In the final period, the teams exchanged goals within the span of 42nd minute: Begench Dovletmyradov scored a goal for Turkmenistan, and the opponent responded with a precise shot by Joaquim Valadas while on the Power Play.
The best players of the match were recognized as the goalkeeper Kerimli Charyev for the Turkmenistan team and forward Jean-Michel van Doesburgh for the South African team.
After the match, in honor of the victory of our hockey players, the national anthem of Turkmenistan was played under the arches of the "City Ice Rink" arena in the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Six teams are competing for a spot in the stronger Division II Group B at the World Championship in Bishkek: Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Thailand, Turkmenistan, and South Africa.
Results of the other matches in the first two rounds: Kyrgyzstan - Thailand - 4:9 (2:1, 1:3, 1:5), Mexico - Thailand - 0:5 (0:2, 0:1, 0:2), Luxembourg - Kyrgyzstan - 3:7 (0:3, 1:2, 2:2).
Thus, after two rounds, the Thailand team is leading the championship with a perfect record of 6 points. The teams of South Africa, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Luxembourg have 3 points each. The Mexican hockey players are at the bottom of the standings without any points.
In the next round, the team coached by Bayram Allayarov will play against the Kyrgyzstan team.
The Turkmenistan national team at the World Championship in Bishkek consists of 20 hockey players, 18 of them represent the "Galkan" club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and 2 represent the "Shir" club of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations.
