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25 May 2017, 12:52

Belarus president against attributing victory of 2021 IIHF WM bid to specific individuals

MINSK, 25 May (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko criticized the attempts to personalize the victory that gave Belarus and Latvia the right to host the 2021 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship. “Today we will talk about the great achievement. We won the right to host the IIHF World Championship in 2021 and we try to personalize this win. I emphasize again: this is not the victory of specific individuals. This is the victory of the people of Belarus and Minsk,” Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting to discuss the development of ice hockey in Belarus, BelTA has learned.

“If in 2014 Minsk had failed to show it could host such large-scale sports events better than any other country, then the current bid would not have won,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

“I can open the secret. Prior to the vote, some two weeks before it, those who personify this win today suggested that I gave up the fight in favor of Finland. I resolutely rejected this idea. Since we agreed with Latvians, we had to fight till the end,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

The president also gave credit to Latvia. “They put forward the idea of filing the joint bid. Later on, during a meeting with Rene Fasel (President of the International Ice Hockey Federation – BelTA's note), I voiced this idea. He said that it was a good idea, and that we could put up competition to Finland. It is another matter that our traditional friends did not support us. But that is a different story, and is a matter for a separate discussion,” the head of state noted.

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