With a victory over the Mexican national team - 8:4, Turkmen hockey players completed their performance at the World Championship in the third division of Group «A», which was held in the capital of Kyrgyzstan with the participation of 6 teams.
The fight for the only ticket to the stronger second division of Group «B» at the City Skating Rink in Bishkek was fought by the teams of Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Thailand, Turkmenistan and South Africa.
Before the match at the current world championship, the hockey players of Turkmenistan and Mexico had never met. Following the results of last year’s World Cup, the Mexicans dropped from group «B» of the second division to group «A» of the third division, where before the last round they had 1 point in their asset for a defeat from Luxembourg - 4:5 in overtime. Therefore, in the match with the Turkmen team, the Mexican national team had the task of winning and protecting itself from relegation from group «A» of the third division to group «B».
The match for our hockey players, who had previously won against the South African team - 4:3 and lost to the teams of Luxembourg - 3:4, Kyrgyzstan - 5:7 and Thailand - 3:13, began discouragingly. Already in the 5th minute, the Mexicans, being in the minority due to the sending off of Hernando Chavez, took the lead – 1:0 thanks to an accurate shot by Alejandro Apuda.
After that, Bayram Allayarov’s team pulled themselves together and scored six goals in a row against the opponent’s goal. In the first period, Begench Dovletmyradov (12th minute) scored, realizing a numerical majority, Alexander Vakhovskiy (15th) and Baymyrat Baymyradov (18th), and in the second the same hockey players scored a double. Begench Dovletmyradov scored in the 21st minute, Alexander Vakhovskiy - in the 23rd, realizing the numerical majority.
After that, the coaching staff of the Mexican national team replaced goalkeeper Santiago Gomez with Tomas Pairo, but soon he also had to take the puck out of his net after an accurate shot by Baymyrat Baymyradov in the 26th minute, when our team played in the minority due to the removal of Begench Dovletmyradov.
In the 28th minute, the Mexicans won back one goal in the minority. The goal was chalked up by Alexander Valencia. A minute later, Arslan Nuryyev restored the advantage of the Turkmen team to five goals – 7:2. And on the 35th, Santiago Esteban reduced the gap to four, and the teams went into the second break with the score 7:3 in favor of the Turkmenistan team.
In the final period, the teams exchanged goals, realizing a numerical majority: our compatriots responded to Jack Rullan’s puck (49th) ten minutes later with an accurate throw from Arslan Nuryyev.
The best players of the match were recognized as: defender Musa Annasaparov in the Turkmenistan team, and defender Jack Rullan in the Mexico team.
After this victory, the national team of Turkmenistan, for which 20 hockey players played - 18 from the «Galkan» club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 2 from the «Shir» club of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, scored 6 points and took fourth place. Previously, at their first two world championships in the third division in Bulgaria and Luxembourg, the Turkmen team received bronze medals, and last year at the World Championships in South Africa - silver. And now our hockey team is left without medals for the first time, retaining its place in Group «A» of the third division for the next season.
The first place with a 100% score - 15 points - was taken by the Thai team, which participated for the fourth time at the World Championships. Last year at the world championship in South Africa, this team took fourth place. And now she has won the right to compete next year in the second division of Group «B». Silver medals for the first time went to the debutants of the tournament in group «A» – the hockey players of Kyrgyzstan (12 points), and bronze medals – to the Luxembourg team (8 points).
The last place was taken by the Mexican team, which next year will compete in the weaker Group «B» of the third division. And it will be replaced in the third division of Group «A» in 2025 by the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which won the 2024 World Cup among the teams of the third division of Group «B», which ended last month in Sarajevo, defeating its rivals from Iran - 3:0, Philippines – 6:3, Singapore – 9:2, DPRK – 4:2 and losing in overtime to Hong Kong hockey players – 3:4.
The best goalkeeper of the 2024 World Cup in Bishkek was Benjamin David Kleineshai (Thailand), the defender was Ken Edwin Kindborn (Thailand), and the scorer was Nicholas Charles Lampson (Thailand), who had 19 points (9 goals and 10 assists). The best in the Turkmenistan national team in the goal plus pass system was striker Arslan Nuryyev, who with 11 points (5 goals and 6 assists) entered the top six scorers.
