Today, Turkmen capital will host a media forum in a conference hall of the Sport Hotel of the Olympic village, dedicated to the starting on April 15 the International Ice Hockey Tournament.

The event was attended by the heads of the State Committee for Physical Education and Sports, the State Committee for Television, Radio Broadcasting and Cinematography, the Hockey Federations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, representatives of the teams participating in the tournament, as well as the media.

Club teams from Bahrain, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Russia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan will take part in the tournament.

Our country will be represented by the eight-time national champion Galkan of the sports club of the same name.

As noted, in the era of the Revival of a new era of a powerful state, under the tireless care of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Turkmenistan is increasingly securing the status of not only an economically powerful state, but also a sports power. Our country, thanks to modern sports facilities built on the initiative of the National Leader of the Turkmen people Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, is increasingly becoming a venue for major international tournaments.

Thus, in recent years, a number of international competitions have been successfully held, including the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, regional sports competitions, the 2018 Amul-Khazar International Rally, as well as the World Championships in weightlifting and kurash wrestling. At the initiative of Turkmenistan, World Bicycle Day is widely celebrated on June 3 every year. These sporting events are a worthy contribution to strengthening international relations, peace and friendship. 

And now Ashgabat is hosting another representative ice hockey tournament. In order to hold the competition at a high level, the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed the Resolution, creating the Organizing Committee and approving its composition.

As noted at the media forum, the hockey tournament was preceded by the most serious, responsible and comprehensive preparation on the part of the State Committee for Physical Education and Sports and the Hockey Federation of Turkmenistan. The Winter Sports Complex, where all matches will be held, has created the necessary conditions for athletes and everyone who will be involved in these competitions, as well as for guests and fans. 200 volunteers from seven higher educational institutions of the country were trained.

In addition, a large cultural program has been developed, including visits to the country’s museums, the State Historical and Cultural Reserve Nusaý, the International Akhalteke Equestrian Complex, sports complexes of the Olympic village, Berkarar, Aşgabat, Arkaç shopping and entertainment centers, sightseeing “smart” city of Arkadag. 

The tournament program includes international coaching and refereeing seminars. One of them took place today in the conference hall of the Sport Hotel. It was organized with the participation of certified international judges Anton Lavrentyev from the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation and Dmitry Kolyak from Belarus, as well as international level coach Aivaz Khalikov from Russia.

During the media forum, journalists were informed about the preparation of the Galkan team for the upcoming tournament.

In preparation for it, the hockey players of the sports club, who form the backbone of the Turkmenistan national team, took part in a training camp in Belarus, as well as in a number of international competitions. They spent the final stage of preparation for the tournament at the Galkan Winter Sports Center under the guidance of experienced coach Andrei Makarov from the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation.

At the media forum it was noted that the International Hockey Tournament in Ashgabat is of great interest to foreign media. Thus, individual programs and videos dedicated to this competition are scheduled to be shown on the Mir24, TRT Avaz, CCTV TV channels. News from this sporting event will be distributed to broadcasters of the news group of the Asiavision Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Association and broadcast by the Interstate Information Pool. In addition, publications of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) and the Asian Sports Press Union (ASPU) plan to publish materials about the tournament.

Hockey matches will also be broadcast live on the Türkmenistan sport and Ýaşlyk TV channels. And our foreign partners have the opportunity to cover the tournament via the TürkmenÄlem 52°E satellite.

In addition, a team of journalists has been created to disseminate news from the international tournament. It is based at the International Information Center in the Olympic Village and provides extensive coverage of the matches on the website www.turkmenistaninfo.gov.tm and on social networks.