The Turkmen hockey players won their third victory at the World Championship in the third division of Group “A”, which is taking place in Istanbul, where six teams are competing for the only ticket to the second division of Group “B”.
After victories in the first two rounds over the teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina – 3:1 (1:1, 0:0, 2:0) and Turkey – 2:1 (1:1, 1:0, 0:0), Ilyas Veliyev’s team inflicted a sensitive defeat on the Luxembourg team – 8:3 (1:1, 0:1, 7:1).
Before this, hockey players from Turkmenistan and Luxembourg played four matches at the world championships at the national team level, in which each team won twice. In 2019, at the World Championship in Sofia, the Turkmen team won 4:3 (0:2, 3:1, 1:0), and in 2022, at the next world championship in Kokelshoy, the Luxembourgers took revenge on their home arena, snatching victory in overtime 5:4 (2:2, 2:1, 0:1, OT 1:0). In 2023, at the World Championship in Cape Town, our compatriots again won 4:1 (1:0, 3:1, 0:0). And last year, at the World Championship in Bishkek, the representatives of Luxembourg turned out to be stronger 4:3 (2:0, 0:2, 2:1).
The fifth full time match between the opponents also turned out to be difficult for the Turkmenistan team, which lost twice during the match. In the first period, the Turkmen hockey players responded to Claude Massong's goal (10th minute) with an accurate shot by Pavel Barkovsky in the 18th minute.
In the 37th minute, Colm Cannon put the Luxembourgers ahead again – 2:1, with this score the teams went into the second break.
In the final 20 minutes, the Turkmen team turned the game around, scoring six goals in a row in 12 minutes. Baimurad Baimuradov scored twice (43rd and 48th minutes). Maksatgeldi Balliev (48th), Pavel Barkovsky (49th), Musa Annasaparov (49th) and Nazar Gylydzhov (55th) scored a goal each. After that, Claude Massong, realized the majority in the 56th minute, got one goal back. And the final score was set at the end of the 58th minute by Pavel Barkovsky, who scored a hat-trick and was recognized as the best player in the Turkmenistan team. In the Luxembourg team, this prize was awarded to Thierry Beran.
In other matches of the 3rd round, the Kyrgyzstan team, which is aiming for promotion, won against the Bosnia and Herzegovina team – 5:1 (2:0, 1:0, 2:1), and the tournament hosts, the Turks, routed their rivals from South Africa – 7:0 (3:0, 3:0, 1:0).
The winner of the lucky ticket to the second division of group "B" will be determined in the last round, in which the team that will take the last place and fly to group "B" of the third division will also be known.
