Belarusian ice hockey federation regrets IIHF's decision to move IIHF WC from Minsk

Chairman of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation Dmitry Baskov commented on the IIHF's decision to redeploy the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship from Minsk, BelTA learned from the BIHF press service. “We are sorry that the International Ice Hockey Federation and the world’s major brands supporting ice hockey have fallen victims to the political games around Belarus,” Dmitry Baskov noted. The country has worked hard: first to prepare a bid to host the world championship and then to organize the tournament, he said. “We still believe that the 2021 IIHF World Championship would have repeated or surpassed the success of the tournament Belarus hosted in 2014,” he said. Moreover, the IIHF World Championship in Minsk would have given a boost not only to children’s sport but also to the tourism industry and the city’s infrastructure.The IIHF announced that it had removed the 2021 IIHF World Championship co-hosting bid of Belarus and Latvia. It was decided to move the 2021 IIHF World Championship from Minsk due to safety reasons, reads the statement of the IIHF.The IIHF Council will consider the status of Latvia as a co-host, and will also evaluate the possibility of moving to a single-venue format.