The world Cup at the Record stadium in Irkutsk opened with a match between Latvia and Slovakia

The program of the world Cup among the teams of group B at the Record stadium on the morning of March 1 was opened in a face-to-face match between the teams of Latvia and Slovakia.

And before the start of this meeting, the opening of the anniversary world Cup in Irkutsk was held at Record, as well as at other stadiums. Participants of the match and fans were greeted by the acting Minister of sports of the Irkutsk region Ilya Reznik and the President of the pribaikalian bandy Federation Vladimir matienko. After the traditional hospitality and singing of the national anthems of Latvia and Slovakia, the hockey players began their direct duties, for which they overcame such a long way to us.
Initially, the Latvian team that played in the elite group A was considered the favorite in this match. However, the Slovak team was clearly against this state of Affairs, which it tried to confirm from the first minutes. With an equal fight, the Slovaks still attacked more sharply and were rewarded for it. In the 21st minute, Christian Luksho successfully completed a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. And seven minutes later, Oliver Shanko completed a similar maneuver effectively - 0:2.

After the break, the Latvians failed to radically change the situation on the field, although they created dangerous moments. Nominal guests continued to bend their line. In the 36th minute, the Slovaks earned a 12-yard shot, but Martin Grell shot past the goal. However, he soon increased the advantage of his team-0: 3. The time-out taken by the coaching staff of the Latvian national team did not help the Baltic hockey players. They couldn't even score a prestige goal. The Slovaks again scored Martin Grell, who set the final score-0: 4.

Konstantin Pryakhin, head coach of the Slovak national team:

– I think I will Express a common opinion by saying thank you to the organizers of the world Cup in Irkutsk! Guests of the competition were given the warmest welcome. And the first match in the tournament is always very difficult for any team. So it happened this time. I believe that we were able to achieve victory only thanks to strict game discipline.

Pēteris of Ostosovs, coach of Latvia:

- I congratulate the players of the Slovak national team on their first victory in the world championship! As for our team, we were preparing for the tournament in a hockey box, so today on the big ice we immediately felt the difference. And when you never score a goal in a match... but it's okay, we'll draw the appropriate conclusions and try to improve our game in the next matches.

Martin Grell, Slovak national team player:

– I am happy that today we won against quite strong opponents. I hope that our team will continue to perform at the tournament in the same spirit. Romans Glazkovsk, Latvian national team player:

– Today, the opponents played at a good level and deserved to win, and I congratulate them. For us, this defeat will serve as a lesson for the future. Yes, there were problems due to the lack of game practice on a large field. But we are not used to gaining momentum during the championship.

Press center of the V girls world championship U-17