There have been a large number of guests from Asian countries in Kazan in recent days. All of them gathered at the international economic forum “Russia – the Islamic world: KazanForum”. Three countries – Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – brought young hockey players with them, who held training camps under the guidance of coaches from the Ak Bars Hockey Academy. The teams also had a friendly meeting, which turned out to be super productive.

About six days of preparation in Almetyevsk and a friendly match between young hockey players – in the report “BUSINESS Online”.

Six days of training in Almetievsk

In addition to the visits of officials and professional athletes, in the middle of the month Tatarstan received hockey players from three Asian republics. On May 10, young athletes born in 2011 and 2012 from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia arrived in Almetyevsk, where training camps were organized for them at the Ak Bars Hockey Academy.

The training program, which the scientific and methodological group of the Academy developed for guests from the Asian republics, was very intense. The guys practiced on the ice twice a day, practiced their technical skills in the throwing area every day. On a mandatory basis, once a day, hockey players had a “dry” training session, which took place either in the gym or on an equipped site next to the hockey center. With particular interest, the guys also attended theoretical classes, where, using the examples of KHL and NHL matches, they analyzed technical and tactical elements.

Immediately after arrival, the hockey players underwent a medical examination. And at the equator of the training camp, the guys passed tests to assess technical and physical fitness. All pupils of the Ak Bars Hockey Academy undergo similar testing several times during the season. Their results were of particular interest to the coaches of the visiting athletes. After all, they had the opportunity to compare the data obtained with the average results for the pupils of the Academy of the corresponding age. Such a comparison helps to understand what moments in the technical training of hockey players need to pay special attention to.

An important part of the camp was friendly matches with the teams of the Neftyanik sports school. There were six in total. The Kazakhs played three times with their peers – hockey players born in 2011, and also had a successful match with the pupils of the Almetyevsk school a year younger. The national team of Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia played two matches with the team born in 2013.

The guests did not hide that they were impressed by the infrastructure, conditions and quality of the training sessions. “We had the opportunity to work out on good equipment. There was a lot of technical trainings, the emphasis was on skating, holding and possession of the puck. In general, the program was well developed, so the children liked it,” Rinat Mustafaev, coach of the Kyrgyz national team, told us.

The visit to Almetievsk became useful for the guests not only in terms of training young athletes, but also in terms of transferring experience. The Neftyanik hockey training center has been training young hockey players for professional teams for several years. In Islamic countries, hockey is not yet very developed. “Good coaches, I really liked the way the Neftyanik Hockey Training Center works. In this regard, we have a lot to learn. We are grateful for the way they received us and helped us with training and camps,” said the coach of the Mongolian team Mergen Arslan.

“Guys played for fun”

Upon completion of the training camp in Almetyevsk, the players arrived in Kazan. Here they went to the gala match of the Golden Puck superfinal, and also held a friendly match at the Ak Bars base. Before the match, the players walked along the corridors of the ice arena and carefully examined the photographs hanging along the wall. “This is Bilyaletdinov, this is Bilyaletdinov,” sounded among the children every now and then.

In the match itself, the national team of Kazakhstan and the combined team of Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia met. The latter consisted of three links: two from Kyrgyzstan and one from Mongolia. From each country there was a goalkeeper who changed during the meeting. By the way, the team had three coaches at once, who in turn went to the side and prompted the hockey players, controlling their links.

The meeting ended with a score of 20:4 in favor of Kazakhstan. At the same time, in the first period, the rivals still somehow kept on a par: this game segment ended with a score of 6:3. Then Kazakhstan scored seven goals in the second and third periods, and their opponent scored only one. It should be noted, however, that the guys from the national team of Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia sincerely rejoiced at each abandoned puck against a obviously stronger opponent.

After the match, the coaches noted that they did not set any tasks for the game: the main thing was to have fun. “The meeting was needed so that the boys would burn off the adrenaline from the road, play, get used to the ice,” Mustafayev said. Kazakhstan national team coach Vladimir Zakharov had a similar opinion. “The guys played for their pleasure.

There were no tasks of the “score a lot” type. We just played for ourselves, rejoiced, ”he said.

How are things going with hockey in Asian countries?

Each of the three teams that visited Tatarstan has its own special hockey history. In their countries, this sport is not as popular as in Russia.

In Mongolia, hockey is considered a young sport. “We do not have professional teams, but we are developing in this direction. Two years ago we built two large arenas. This year we played in the fourth division of the World Championship and took second place. In March, we competed in the Asian Youth Championship, where we took the third place, ”Arslan said proudly. He himself opened his hockey academy 5 years ago, at the same time he recruited. According to Arslan, it was her graduates who represented the Mongolian national team at the World Championship, which was held in March this year in Ulaanbaatar.

At the same time, local problems also exist. For example, Arslan may contain ice only 26 meters long and 14 meters wide. On it, the players only train, and go to play on a standard site. In total, the hockey school is attended by 200 children of different ages. The youngest are five years old.

There are more people who want to play hockey in Kyrgyzstan than in Mongolia. However, local teams have very few trips to countries with a higher level of hockey. In the post-COVID period, the visit to Kazan was the first in the last three years.

Kazakhstan remains much more developed in terms of hockey. This is not surprising: the country has a top club, Barys, playing in the KHL, the national team plays in the first division at the World Championships, and until recently, the country’s youth teams played in Russia. Zakharov himself was professionally involved in hockey, and after that he began to train children. According to the coach, before the pandemic, teams from Kazakhstan regularly played against Russian ones, but in recent years there have been no such trips. That is why a visit to the capital of Tatarstan is especially valuable: you can play with stronger opponents and gain the necessary experience. Asian hockey players take full advantage of this.