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Abdirahmaan’s 15 minutes of fame!

No, it was actually 17 minutes and 25 seconds that Abdirahmaan Mohamed Barkhadle was in the limelight when he scored Somalia’s first goal in the World Championship tournament. He scored 1-0 for his team in the final game of the play offs against Switzerland. But after this moment of joy, Switzerland scored 1-1.

But a goal that deserves to be mentioned it was in any case.

Putin sent greetings to all participants and guests in Irkutsk!

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a greeting to the participants and guests of the World Championships in Bandy!

“Dear friends!

I greet you and congratulate you on the opening of the 40th men’s world ball hockey championship.

It is gratifying that every year ball hockey draws into its orbit an increasing number of participants and fans of this wonderful sport. Such significant success is the result of consistent, responsible work of the International and National Federations.

And of course, an important role in the development and promotion of Russian ball hockey is played by our country, which regularly hosts world championships, strives to hold them at the highest level, to acquaint guests with different cities and regions of Russia.

This tournament will be held in one of the largest centers of Siberia – Irkutsk. I am sure that the organizers did everything to make it a real holiday for hockey players and numerous fans of this spectacular winter sports game, remembered by the bright moments of victories and triumphs.

Wish you all the best”.

(As you might know, bandy is called ball hockey in Russia.)

The focus is development!

FIB has a clear focus on developing the bandy in several different areas. How can the federation contribute to the bandy in countries with ambition to develop in a number of different areas? That is a key issue. Therefore, an analysis work is currently underway during the World Championship in Irkutsk together with the nations in Group B. This is to identify the needs of the nations to be able to develop the sport and to see what problems and opportunities exist.

Thony Lindqvist

Thony Lindqvist and Evgeny Epifanov has been commissioned to carry out the analysis in Irkutsk this week. Both with a lot of experience of national and international bandy. Thony has been a successful player and is still working with Skutskär’s women’s team in Sweden. He has both played and worked as head coach for many years in both Sweden and Russia. He has also been working with education at the Bandy High School in Sandviken. Evgeny was born in Russia and played both bandy and football as a junior in Moscow. In Germany he also played bandy in the national team for several years and cooperated with nearby European countries to develop bandy. He is also member of FIB Executive Committee.

Evgeny Epifanov

The interviews with leaders and coaches in Irkutsk are about many things. How much the number of players in the countries have changed in recent years, the skills of leaders/coaches, the conditions regarding ice rinks and equipment and not least the needs and wishes of the nations themselves for the development of the sport.

The report from Thony and Evgeny will be communicated to FIB’s congress during the World Championship tournament for Group A in a few weeks. Then FIB will take the ideas further in its development work together with the teams in Group B.

An important news in this context is the plans for construction of a new full-sized art-frozen arena for bandy in Zurich, Switzerland. That will be important for the development of bandy in central Europe.

New world penalty record!

Many players in the bandy world have in their careers made a visit to the penalty bench, both time-limited and match penalties. But the question is whether or not Kristián Lukšo, defender in Slovakia, today Sunday March 1, entered the sections of history books you may not directly boast of. He managed to get a red card penalty…twice … on the same day! Most players never get that chance because they rarely play two matches on the same day. But this Sunday, Kristián did.

In the morning’s match against Latvia, he got a red card for dropping an opponent when he was completely free with the goalkeeper. Red card! In tonight’s loss match against Mongolia, he got a 10-minute penalty for rough play against a Mongolian player. When he left the field he was violent towards the penalty bench. Red card again! The world record is going to be hard to beat and we recommend no one to try to beat it.

To find out if it is a world record, we consulted the tournament’s head supervisor and the chairman of the FIB Rules and Referees Committee, Mr. Olle Modin. Olle shook his head a few times at the story “we have never experienced it ever”

No player was hurt so you might read this with a smile on your face. It is understandable. But we may hope that Kristián has learned one lesson, or maybe two, anyway. Because he gets the chance to play more in Irkutsk as both red cards were not considered rough.

Dennis Pacsay the fastest goal scorer in Irkutsk!

Dennis Pacsay Photo: The Hungarian Bandy Federation

Hungarian midfielder Dennis Pacsay became the fastest goal scorer in the World Championship tournament Group B in Irkutsk. In the opening match against the Netherlands, he scored the first goal already after 4 minutes and 27 seconds into the first half.

Dennis Pacsay plays in the Swedish Division 1 South with his team Finspångs AIK where this season he only scored 4 goals. But in Irkutsk playing for Hungary he was the fastest.