The A-World Cup in ice hockey in May will be without Russia and Belarus, the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation announces that it will host the championships.
The reason is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ support for it.
The Finnish Ice Hockey Federation, which is to host the A-World Cup, will not include Russia and Belarus in the tournament. The association writes on its website, where it states that the two countries should be excluded from all ice hockey.
According to the association’s chairman Harri Nummela, the matter has already been discussed with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) president Luc Tardiff.
– We stated that it is not possible for Russia and Belarus to participate in the world championships for men in Tampere and Helsinki in May, Nummela says to the association’s website.
He has also made it clear to the IIHF that it wants Russia and Belarus excluded from all ice hockey activities.
Finland is the newly beaten Olympic champion in ice hockey, where they beat the Russians in the final. On that occasion, Russia played under a neutral flag, as the country remains excluded due to the several-year-old case of state-controlled doping in Russia.
Denmark will later this year have to take a stand on the same problem as Finland is now doing.
Denmark will thus host the women’s A-World Cup in ice hockey in August. Russia is also here and will play group matches in Herning.
However, the Danish Ice Hockey Union (DIU) has not announced anything yet. The chairman of DIU, Henrik Bach Nielsen, is also vice president of IIHF.