The Congress of the International Ice Hockey Federation was held from 22 to 26 May in Bratislava (Slovakia), the official IIHF website reports.
The International Ice Hockey Federation has changed the format of the competition, dividing the World Championship Division III into groups "A" and "B", and also creating the fourth division.
In group "A" of the World Championship Division III , the national team of Turkmenistan turned out to compete for entering the II division with the national teams of Turkey, Luxembourg, Taiwan, the DPRK and the United Arab Emirates. The tournament will be held in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from April 19 to April 25, 2020. In group :B" of the division III, where the winner of the IV division will get, teams from Thailand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hong Kong and South Africa will play.
Recall the World Hockey Championship is held in several divisions, depending on the rating of teams.
In April, Turkmen hockey players ranked third in the final standings of the 2019 IIHF World Championship Division III, having achieved a historic event. 6 national teams took part in the championship - two from Asia, three from Europe and one from Africa. Note that the national hockey team of Turkmenistan participated in the 2019 IIHF World Championship Division III for the first time.
In 2017, the Turkmenistan national team won a convincing victory in the second division of the Asian Winter Games, held in the Japanese city of Sapporo. This provided access to the first division of the next Asian Winter Games, which will be held in 2021 in China. We also note the victory of the Turkmen team at last year's qualifying tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which allowed our team to reach the third division of the 2019 World Championship in Sofia for the first time.
In order to prepare at the proper level for the next 2020 World Cup in Group A of the third division, the Ice Hockey Federation of Turkmenistan is negotiating with the federations of the sport in Russia and Latvia to hold training camps on their ice arenas.
The Ice Hockey Federation is also interested in attracting highly skilled mentors from these two countries to work in Turkmenistan. All teams of rivals of the Turkmen hockey team in the division III are trained by mentors from leading hockey powers - Canada, Finland and the USA.
