Opening the 5th Christmas International Ice Hockey Tournament at the Minsk Palace of Sports on January 4, Belarusian Head of State Alexander Lukashenko stressed that despite its historical youth the tournament has already become popular and achieved recognition in the country as well as abroad, BelTA informed. “The major goal of the tournament is the popularization and development of the ice hockey and involvement of a greater number of people in it. Such amateur matches, of course, promote and strengthen kind and friendly relations between the participating countries,” Alexander Lukashenko said. According to the President, this year the teams have included a lot of former professional ice hockey players who have showed great results at the high-level competitions. Some of them have been the world’s ice hockey stars. The Head of State said that the foreign guests would have an opportunity to get familiar with the modern Belarus, feel the hospitality of the Belarusian people and see the love of the Belarusians to the sports. The President underscored that in many sports Belarus makes the list of the leading sports countries. Ice hockey is the most appreciated kind of sports in Belarus. Numerous fans support their teams at the country’s open championships. The number of people who are eager to go in for ice hockey increases year-on-year. Alexander Lukashenko congratulated spectators and participants of the tournament on the New Year and Christmas holidays. The Belarusian Head of State wished positive emotions and good mood to the fans and good luck and a fair game to the teams. The first matches took place on January 4: Finland beat Germany 12:1, Russia defeated Austria 11:3. Belarus is presented at the tournament by the President’s team. At the first match Belarus met Switzerland at the Palace of Sports. At the preliminary stage the tournament is traditionally divided into two groups. The first group, Quartet A, includes Belarus, Germany, Switzerland and Finland. The second group, Quartet B, consists of Russia, Austria, Canada and Slovakia. Belarus is due to meet Germany on January 5 and Finland on January 6. Belarus was the winner of the Christmas tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Since 2006 the tournament has been held under the auspices of the national state and public association President’s Sports Club. The competitions have been organized by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of Belarus, the Ice Hockey Federation of the Republic of Belarus, the Minsk Urban Executive Committee. БЕЛТА
Written by belta.by
