The first victory was won by the hockey players of the Turkmenistan national team at the World Championships in Bishkek in the third division of group “A”. In the second round of the competition, head coach Bayram Allayarov’s wards beat the South African national team - 4:3, writes the publication “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”.
Both teams had an ambiguous start to the tournament: in the first round, the South African team won against the Mexican team - 6:3 (3:1, 1:2, 2:0), and the hockey players of Turkmenistan lost to their opponents from Luxembourg - 3:4 (0:2, 2:0, 1:2).
Before this, the hockey teams of Turkmenistan and South Africa at the level of national teams met twice at the world championships. In 2019, at the world championship in Sofia, the Turkmen team celebrated victory - 7:2, and last year the South Africans took revenge at the home world championship - 9:6.
In the third confrontation between the rivals, Arslan Nuryev opened the scoring at the end of the 2nd minute. Three minutes later, Erkin Kakabayev doubled the lead. In the 14th minute, Jean-Michel van Doesburg pulled one goal back, and the teams went into the first break with the score 2:1 in favor of the Turkmenistan national team.
At the end of the 25th minute, Arslan Nuryev scored a double, increasing the advantage to two goals - 3:1. However, in the 31st minute, Jean-Michel van Doesburg also responded with a double, reducing the gap to a minimum of 2:3.
In the final period, the teams exchanged goals in the 42nd minute: the opponent responded to Begench Dovletmyradov's puck with a power play from Joaquim Valadas.
The best players of the match were recognized as: in the Turkmenistan team - goalkeeper Karimli Charyev, and in the South African team - forward Jean-Michel van Doesburg.
At the end of the match, the anthem of Turkmenistan was played in honor of the winners under the arches of the “City Skating Rink” arena in the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Six teams are fighting for a ticket to the stronger second division of group “B” at the World Championships in Bishkek: Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Thailand, Turkmenistan and South Africa.
Results of the remaining meetings of the first two rounds: Kyrgyzstan Thailand 4:9 (2:1, 1:3, 1:5), Mexico Thailand 0:5 (0:2, 0:1, 0:2), Luxembourg Kyrgyzstan 3:7 (0:3, 1:2, 2:2).
Thus, after two rounds, the Thai team leads the championship with a 100% indicator - 6 points. The teams of South Africa, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Luxembourg have 3 points each. Mexico's hockey players are at the bottom of the standings and have no points yet.
In the next round, Bayram Allayarov’s team will play against the team of Kyrgyzstan.
20 hockey players are playing for the Turkmenistan national team at the World Championships in Bishkek, 18 of whom represent the “Galkan” club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 2 from the “Shir” club of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations.