ENTHUSIASTIC GB TEAM AFTER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

It was an enthusiastic team from Great Britain that left the FIB World Championship Women in Sweden. The tournament is the first in which the female GB team and Netherlands team participated and it was an immediate success for both teams. Great Britain reached the final of Group B and met the Netherlands. The final was exciting and very tight and was first decided with Golden Goal in favor of the Dutch team. Thus. We really hope both teams will show up in World Championships next time. 

 

SWEDEN AND NETHERLANDS WINNERS!

SWEDEN WORLD CHAMPION!

Sweden defended the championship title for women when the final of the 2022 World Championship was decided on Sunday, March 27. Sweden defeated Norway, which played in the championship final for the first time. In the end, the victory was quite big for the host nation, 12-0 after 6-0 at half time.

Several teams have developed a lot in recent years. Norway and the United States impressed most. The Netherlands and Great Britain also made an exciting championship debut in the Group B. This development means that the upcoming world championships will be very interesting. Of course, Russia’s absence this year meant that it did not become a traditional final in this year’s tournament.

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The Finnish team won the bronze medals after a convincing victory against the USA with 5-2 (2-1) in the match for third prize. 

The goals in the final:
1-0 (17) Matilda Svenler (assist Emelie Åkerlund), 2-0 (22) Tilda Ström (ass Moa Friman), 3-0 (26) Tilda Ström (ass Sanna Gustafsson), 4-0 (27) Moa Friman (ass Ida Friman), 5-0 (38) Tilda Ström (ass Lisa Östman), 6-0 (43) Tilda Ström (ass Sanna Gustafsson), 7-0 (59) Tilda Ström, 8-0 (71) Mathilda Eklund (ass Ida Friman), 9-0 (77) Emelie Åkerlund (ass Matilda Svenler), 10-0 (85) Ida Friman (ass Emelie Åkerlund), 11-0 (90) Emma Ahlander (ass Emelie Åkerlund) and 12-0 (92) Emelie Åkerlund

THE NETHERLANDS WON GROUP B

In Group B of the World Championships, it was the Netherlands who won the tournament after a very well-conducted tournament. It was a brilliant debut as it was the first time the Netherlands participated in the World Championshipös. The team won 4 games out of 5. A very good performance and a great victory. In the final, the Netherlands won against the newcomer Great Britain by deciding in extra time Golden Goal by scoring the only goal of the match. Happy goal scorer was Meinke Gommans.

Great Britain aims at Stockholm!

It is well known that bandy as a sport was invented in the British Isles before country after country became aware of it. Today, FIB member national federations are found almost all around the world.

But in the GB, bandy has been in decline for a very long time since they invented the sport, at least if we talk about womens bandy. The British men’s team has participated in the World Championships as late as 2019 when the B group nations met in Sweden. Then the team went all the way to the final. There, however, Estonia became too difficult and the Estonians won 9-3.

In 2020 tournament in Irkutsk they did not get the chance to participate due to Visa problems.

But now there are far-reaching plans for the Great Britain to establish itself in the big picture on the women’s side as well. Talks are currently ongoing with potential sponsors for this historic contest where the British Isles will take this originally British sport to compete against those forward thinking countries who have continued the bandy playing tradition since it was first taken out to them by the Bury Fen Bandy Club from the fens of Cambridgeshire in the 19th century!

The leading lady in British bandy Rev Lyn Gibb de Swarte is now working intensively to attract sponsors to support the British women team’s commitment to the World Championships in Stockholm in January 2022.

FIB really wish Lyn and her staff great luck in order for the dream to become a reality!

If you want to know more about it or maybe even want to be a sponsor for the team, the email address is this: gbbandyfederation@btinternet.com

SAIK Bandy first to the World Cup!

Sandvikens AIK, the elite club in Sweden, arranged the FIB World Cup for the past 11 years. The tournament was born in Swedish Ljusdal as a round-the-clock tournament back in 1974 and later the tournament was promoted to the World Cup. The first team to win the tournament in 1974 was Sandvikens AIK and when the tournament was played in 2019 Bollnäs GIF won the trophy after a final victory against SKA Neftyanik with 5-2.

December 17-20 this year, the World Cup will be played in Krasnoyarsk. Decisive for the tournament will of course be how the ongoing corona pandemic develops and what restrictions will apply in December.

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Rafi Markarian is the club manager of SAIK Bandy and he explains why his club is the first to register for this year’s World Cup in Krasnoyarsk:
-After arranging the tournament for 11 years, we of course want to be involved even when the World Cup is decided in Russia. But we were unsure whether we would be able to manage the participation financially. Since then, of course, the Covid19 pandemic has also created uncertainty for participation. We have worked hard to have a healthy economy, we can not incur large costs. But now the financial conditions are so favorable from the organizers in Russia that we immediately decided to participate. Now the costs will not be greater than if we have a training camp in Sweden, says Rafi.

What will it be like to play the World Cup for the first time in Russia?
-It will be exciting to see and above all if the Russians can create the public success that we may not have fully succeeded in, says Rafi Markarian.

The World Cup will be played December 17-20. A time that Rafi thinks feels logical:
-Normally, the national team players usually go to a 4-nation tournament then. Now all our players get an experience to go to Krasnoyarsk and play the World Cup instead. It will probably be especially cool and useful for the younger players.

What can his SAIK hope for in the World Cup?
-Very difficult to say. We have lost a couple of great national team players and instead got some new good players. It will be exciting to see how we can challenge not least the Russian teams, Rafi Markarian concludes.

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The majority of the participating teams will be Russian, just as it has been with the Swedish teams in previous tournaments. Six Swedish teams are invited. The ambition is to have the four best teams in Sweden to participate. However, it is currently unclear which Swedish teams will participate. Then the organizer will give Wild Cards to two more Swedish teams. One of the two clubs offered a Wild Card has also accepted the World Cup and it is AIK Bandy from Stockholm who this season has recruited a large number of international star players to fight in the top of Swedish Elitserien..

 

Russia World Champion Boys Y17!

Russia became World Champion for Boys Y17 in Lidköping, Sweden. In the final, Russia won by 7-2 against Sweden. It was very well deserved guys from Russia who won the final. The team dominated the match from start to finish and Sweden never came close. Russia continued its offensive play throughout the match and it never gave the Swedish team any chance to take control of the game.

0-1 (02) Vladislav Fedorenko, assist Mikhail Shirshov
1-1 (19) Rasmus Skarps, assist Ludde Bjernulf
1-2 (22) Artur Shelpaikov. assist Mikhail Shirshov
1-3 (41) Andrei Busygin, assist Ivan Brovkin
1-4 (51) Ivan Kondratev
1-5 (52) Ivan Kondratev, assist Vladislav Fedorenko
2-5 (62) Vladimir In-Fa-Lin, assist Måns Racov
2-6 (69) Andrei Busygin, assist Vladislav Fedorenko
2-7 (78) Vladimir Mikhalchenko, assist Mikhail Shirshov

Best players
Mikhail Shirshov, Russia and Vladimir In-Fa-Lin, Sweden

 

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 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.

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!

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.