Turkmenistan's "Galkan" hockey team started the international tournament in Ashgabat, opened today, with a big victory over the team from Bahrain, winning 8-1.

The competition involves 10 club teams divided into two groups. Group "A" consists of "Galkan" (Turkmenistan), "Bahrain Ice Hockey Club" (Bahrain), "Ice Box Iran Mall" (Iran), "Oman Nationals" (Oman), and "Feniks" (Uzbekistan). Group B includes "Volat" (Belarus), "Aqmola" (Kazakhstan), "Dordoi" (Kyrgyzstan), "ADIHIC-Kazan" (Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation), and "Team-Turkiye" (Turkey).

The eight-time champion of Turkmenistan "Galkan", representing the namesake sports club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, started the opening game against the Bahraini team with great power. In the 3rd minute of the match, 20-year-old Novruz Baykhanov broke through the opponent's goal, skillfully outplayed the goalkeeper, and scored the first goal for our team. A minute later, Pavel Barkovsky's wrist shot caught the guests' goalkeeper off guard. And two minutes later, the third goal flew into the Bahraini net, scored by Alexander Vakhovsky. Before the end of the first period, Begench Dovletmyradov and Arslan Geldimyradov scored two more goals, and the teams went to the break with a score of 5-0 in favor of "Galkan".

In the second period, the game calmed down a bit, which the Bahraini hockey players took advantage of to score a goal. However, in the third 20-minute period, the Turkmen players regained the initiative and scored three more goals against the opponent. The sixth goal was particularly spectacular, which was scored by Dovlet Khydyrov with a long shot from the middle zone. Then Arslan Nuryev scored, and Baymyrat Baymyradov sealed the victory in the match in the last minute of the game.

In the other Group "A" match, played earlier, Uzbekistan's "Feniks" defeated "Oman Nationals" with a score of 11-3 (6-1, 1-0, 4-2). In this game, the first goal of the tournament was scored by 16-year-old Bekhruz Najmiev, playing for the winning team.

In Group "B", the first victories today were achieved by "Aqmola" (Kazakhstan) and "ADIHIC-Kazan" (Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation). The Kazakh team won against "Team-Turkiye" (Turkey) with a score of 5-3 (0-1, 2-1, 3-1), and the Russians defeated the "Dordoi" club from Kyrgyzstan with a score of 8-3 (1-4, 2-1, 0-3).

The tournament continues.