Hockey team of Kyrgyzstan defeats UAE at qualification for the Olympics

The national ice hockey team of Kyrgyzstan started a qualifying tournament for the 2022 Winter Olympics with a victory.

At least 12 teams will play at the final stage of the Olympic hockey tournament. Nine of them are already known — these are the eight best teams in the world ranking and the host of the Games. The competition for the remaining three berths will take four qualifying rounds.

The Kyrgyz team plays in group N in the first round. In addition to it, there are teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg and the UAE. Matches are held in Luxembourg.

On November 8, the national team defeated the UAE team in the debut match with a score 9: 4. Vladimir Nosov (7^th and 53^rd minutes), Alexander Titov (23^rd and 32^nd minutes), Vladimir Tonkikh (36^th, 49^th and 55^th minutes), Artem Gorobets (47^th minute) and Zhanbolot Tagayev (54^th minute) scored goals.

Earlier, the Kyrgyz Republic and the UAE met at the qualifying tournament for the World Cup in April. The team of Kyrgyzstan won (7: 4).

The Kyrgyzstanis will have the next match with a team of Luxembourg on November 9.