IIHF inspection team happy with Belarus’ 2014 World Championship progress

MINSK, 7 March (BelTA) – A delegation of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) completed their 4 to 6 March visit to Minsk to assess the 2014 IIHF World Championship preparations. The delegation noted that the organizers meet the preparations schedule prescribed by the championship regulations and praised the constructive cooperation between all services and organizations involved in preparations, BelTA learnt from Piotr Ryabukhin, manager of the Directorate for the 2014 World Championship.

The delegation headed by IIHF Deputy Secretary General/Event Director Hannes Ederer also included both the IIHF officials and representatives of the IIHF commercial partner, the international sports marketing agency Infront Sports& Media AG.

On the first day of their stay the delegation visited Minsk Arena where they were shown the sports rooms that will be used during the 2014 World Championship. The officials reconsidered the location of commentary cabins and seats for media representatives, adjusted the 22 camera points and made some recommendations regarding the location of major and subsidiary offices of the 2014 championship.

The next day the delegation paid visits to Chizhovka Arena and the President Hotel, which was followed by a two-day working session at the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation. The working session touched upon a number of issues, including the preparations for the IIHF Congress, the volunteers program, the service facilities for the World Championship and the seats for sale.

The session also had discussions on the issues of the souvenir production of the championship and sports issues such as fixtures, training schedule, team services and statistics office. The parties also talked over the quantity and the time schedule for the delivery of inventory and equipment for the tournament, which is Infront Sports& Media AG’s area of responsibility.

The delegation together with the representatives of the Directorate for the 2014 World Championship and the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation officials checked on the preparation efforts and met with officials from various Belarusian agencies that are responsible for the technological aspects of the World Championship. The delegation also gave their recommendations on the tournament preparation based on the relevant experience from previous World Championships. During the working sessions about 30 items of the World Championships regulations were thoroughly discussed. The delegation issued some remarks on the transport connection between the two venues, ticket prices, appearance of arenas, media coverage, security and other issues. Concluding their visit the IIHF inspection praised the constructive cooperation between all services and organizations involved in the 2014 World Championship preparations. They also noted that the organizing committee meets the preparation schedule prescribed by the World Championship regulations.