2003 FIB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEN

Arkhangelsk, Russia, 24-30 March

The World Championship 2003 was played in Arkhangelsk in Russia 24-30 March. Sweden won the tournament before Russia and Kazakhstan.

Sweden thus won its first World Championship since 1997. Russia dominated the tournament in the years around the turn of the millennium and the beginning of the new decade through victories in the 1999 and 2001. Kazakhstan took it’s first medal and for the third time Finland was without a medal. The B group was won by Belarus, which lost to Norway by 3-7 in the qualifying match for the A group in 2004. Estonia did this year the first ever World Championship in bandy.

It was initially thought that the tournament would be played in Norway. But on January 7, 2002, the Norwegian Bandy Federation gathered and decided to resign tas organizer, with just over a year left for the tournament. Instead, Russia or Sweden was offered to host the Championship. Soon Russia was victorious. Because the tournament played at the end of March, it avoided severe cold, like at the 1999 when the tournament was played at the end of January-February.

1 SWEDEN         

Andreas Bergwall, Daniel Kjörling, Marcus Bergwall, Daniel Eriksson, Per Gustafsson, Göran Rosendahl, Anders Östling, Per Fosshaug, Stefan Söderholm, Michael Carlsson, Henrik Hagberg, Andreas Lindström, Magnus Muhrén, Stefan Erixon, Patrik Södergren, Patrik Nilsson

2 RUSSIA          

Vyacheslav Ryabov, Alexander Yevtin, Andrei Zolotarjov, Oleg Haidarov, Mikhail Svešnikov, Alexander Tjukavin, Nikolai Kadakin, Yuri Pogrebnoi, Sergei Obuhov, Alexei Shcheglov, Ivan Maksimov, Sergei Lomanov, Oleg Chubinsky, Pavel Frants, Valery Grachev, Rinat Shamsutov, Nikolai Yarovich

3 KAZAKHSTAN

Mikhail Paskin, Alexander Kosynchuk, Andrei Timushev, Alexei Zolotarjov, Alexander Zinkevich, Alexander Kipriyanov, Denis In-Fa-Lin, Alexander Driagin, Andrei Thornberry, Alexander Brattsev, Alexei Zherebkov, Vladislav Novozhilov, Yuri Loginov, Aleksei Zhenevsky, Denis Slautin

BEST GOAL SCORER GROUP A

12 goals – Michael Carlsson, Sweden

BEST GOAL SCORER GROUP B

13 goals – Sergey Chernetsky, Belarus

BEST PLAYERS

Goal keeper
Andreas Bergwall, Sweden

Defender
Pär Gustafsson, Sweden

Midfielder
Alexander Tjukavin, Russia

Forward
Sergei Obuchov, Russia