Opinions & Interviews

Relocation of IIHF WC 2014 no longer on agenda, Vorsin says

MINSK, 27 December (BelTA) – The issue of relocating the IIHF World Championship 2014 is no longer on the official agenda, the head of the directorate for the world championship, the Chairman of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation Evgeny Vorsin, told a press conference held 500 days prior to the event.

Evgeny Vorsin emphasized that the final decision on staging the IIHF World Championship in Minsk in May 2014 was taken at the May Congress of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in Finland and will not be revised.

"Some time before the IIHF Congress representatives of the United States Senate and the European Parliament put forward the idea to boycott the 2014 IIHF World Championship, or even ban it altogether in Belarus for some political reasons. Delegates to the Congress rejected such considerations. The principled position in support of the Congress delegates was shown by President of the International Ice Hockey Federation Rene Fasel. We received official assurances that the World Championship will be held in Minsk. I would ask media representatives not to ask this question again regardless of the speculations around this issue. The World Championship will be held in Belarus in May 2014, no doubt,” said Evgeny Vorsin.

He said that from September to December this year Belarus welcomed three inspection missions from the International Ice Hockey Federation and its commercial partner - sport marketing agency Infront Sports&Media. According to Evgeny Vorsin, none of the inspections found any failures on the part of Belarus to fulfill its obligations undertaken under the contract to host the World Championship. "No violations of the sports, medical, or technical regulations of the championship were revealed. After the visit to Belarus in November Secretary of the IIHF Horst Lichtner said in his report that Belarus is not just gearing up for the event. In many positions it got ahead of the action plan,” Evgeny Vorsin said.

He recalled that during 2011-2012, the administrative work regarding the world championship was done by the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation on a voluntary basis. The directorate for the world championship was set up in the second half of 2012 and assumed all organizational functions. The new company was allocated €6 million of state support in according with the Decree of the President of Belarus.

Speaking of the two arenas that will host matches of the 2014 World Championship, Evgeny Vorsin said that Minsk Arena has already earned a good reputation. Chizhovka Arena is in the final stage of construction. Chizhovka Arena was originally built for the World Championship, therefore all international requirements were taken into account. As regards Minsk Arena some drawbacks still have to be eliminated,” said Evgeny Vorsin.

It is planned that the 2014 IIHF World Championship in Minsk will be covered by around 600 journalists, and about 150 press photographers from around the world. Accreditation of foreign mass media representatives will be carried out by the IIHF. For Belarusian media the quota is 50 representatives. Their official accreditation will be handled by the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation.

The IIHF World Championship will take place in Minsk from 9 to 25 May 2014.

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