December 3, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. In April, Belarus will host for the first time the Gazprom Neft Cup games, the largest children's ice hockey competition in Europe. This was reported to BELTA by the press service of the International Tournament of Children's Ice Hockey Teams of the KHL.
During the meeting of the tournament's organizing committee held in Minsk with the participation of the Assistant to the President of Belarus for Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism Development, Maxim Ryzhenkov, it was decided that the games of the "West" group will be held on April 20-22 at the Chizhovka-Arena ice palace. The participants of the meeting noted that this is the most modernly equipped ice hockey arena in Belarus, built as part of the preparations for the World Ice Hockey Championship. The opening match of the "West" group will be a game between the children's teams "Dinamo" (Minsk) and SKA (Saint Petersburg).
Preliminary agreements have been reached on partnership in covering the tournament with Belarusian television companies. Traditional partners of the Gazprom Neft Cup from the Russian side include the NTV Plus television company, the Russia 2 and Sport channels (VGTRK holding), as well as KHL TV.
Issues of accommodation for participating teams, adaptation of catering for the teams, and organization of volunteer work were discussed. Gazprom Transgaz Belarus acted as the general partner of the "West" group.
The head of the tournament's organizing committee, member of the Gazprom Neft management board, Alexander Dybal, noted during the meeting that Belarus has rich ice hockey traditions and excellent modern infrastructure has been created. "All these factors, and very importantly, the support of the President of Belarus, played a key role in choosing Minsk as the venue for the "West" group games. The preparation process is proceeding very intensively, and we are confident that we will be able to hold the stage in Minsk at the traditionally high international level," he said.
The Gazprom Neft Cup is the largest sports project of the "Gazprom - Children" program, which over seven years has grown into the largest children's ice hockey tournament in Europe. In 2014, the Gazprom Neft Cup will be held for the first time under a new system: the number of participating teams has increased from 16 to 24. Young hockey players will compete for the cup in two groups of 12 teams each. The games of the "East" group will take place in Omsk, where the super-final of the championship with the participation of the winners of the two groups will also be held on April 25.