The World Junior Hockey Championship among girls in the second division group A was held in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The Kazakh women's team won four wins in five matches and won a silver medal.
The Karaganda team contributed to the team's success. According to the results of the selection, four representatives of the Karaganda team "Yunost-Gratsia" entered the team: a defender and three forwards.
The championship was held from January 20 to 26. After returning home, the girls spoke about their sports career at a meeting at the Karaganda Arena ice palace.
This is the third world championship for forward Anna Klimova. She previously played for the national team in Bulgaria and the Netherlands. She started playing hockey at the age of 8 and has been doing it for 9 years.
The 10th grade student of gymnasium No. 3 admits that it is difficult to combine hockey with studies. When you are on a constant journey, you have to master the program yourself to keep up with your classmates.
– A lot is being done to develop hockey. Favorable conditions are being created for training. We are making progress. I think that everything is enough to become a champion, – believes Anna Klimova. – Participating in the World Championship is an invaluable experience. The games in Riga were very interesting. I hope to get into the national team next year.
Boyzhetken has one goal and one assist on his account.
– Preparation for the competitions in Latvia was very important. Training camps were held in Ust-Kamenogorsk, then in Riga. The first match was against the Great Britain team. I think we were not fully focused, which is why we lost. We had to make a little effort. But we managed to defeat New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands and Latvia, – said defender Kalima Nigmatulina.
According to Boyzhetken, she chose hockey because it is a great and fast sport. She has been doing it for five years. She is used to the burden: the weight of the uniform is about 30 kilograms.
Kalima does not agree with the opinion that women's hockey is more difficult than men's hockey.
- We are not allowed to use force. Fighting is allowed. I think it looks rougher than men's hockey. But it is also interesting, - says the hockey player.
Alina Zhakulina and Renata Livshits from Karaganda also became silver medalists of the World Championship.
- We watched all the games of our girls. The competition was very interesting. We barely missed the first place. In general, we played decently, - said Vasily Popov, senior coach of the Yunost-Gratsia team. - I have been coaching the women's team for eight years in a row. It is much easier to work with the girls, they play very carefully, they are responsible. But from the first day you have to strictly monitor discipline and rigor. The task is only to advance.
"Yunost-Gratsiya" is aimed at winning the Kazakhstan Championship. The third round of the national championship will be held in Karaganda from February 10 to 16. Teams from Astana, Almaty and Ust-Kamenogorsk will participate in the game.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/karaganda/press/news/details/926916