Belarus’ hockey team returning to world championship elite division after exclusions
At the IIHF semi-annual congress held in Turkey, a concept of the return of the national teams of Belarus and Russia to participate in the world championships was presented. According to it, after the relevant decision is made by the Council of the International Ice Hockey Federation, the Belarusian and Russian national teams will return to the categories and divisions they were in before their participation in the world championship programmes was ‘frozen’. The decision may be made on the eve of the IIHF annual congress in May.
Commenting on the concept, the Head of the Belarusian Hockey Federation, Aleksandr Bogdanovich, noted with satisfaction that the International Ice Hockey Federation has finally clearly voiced its position regarding the national teams of Belarus and Russia and the mechanism for their return to participation in the world championships. "Not only we, but also other members of the world hockey family understand now how this will happen. As we can see from the voting results, other federations support our return. Therefore, we will continue to train our teams in order to approach the moment of returning in good playing shape, because the performance of all our teams in the top division of the world championships is extremely important not only for current athletes, but also for the prospects of hockey development in Belarus," he stated.
