Georgia’s ice hockey team in running for World Championship promotion

Georgian National Ice Hockey Team is on its way to being promoted to an upper level of Ice Hockey World Championship after scoring three wins out of three in the ongoing tournament in Cape Town.

The Georgian team has put itself in the driving seat of the competition for the single qualification spot in Division II after easing past Hong Kong with a score 11:1 on Thursday.

With five goals and four assists from Aleksandre Zhuzhunashvili along with four goals and two assists contributed by Oliver Obolgogiani, the game on Thursday was an exhibition in a performance gap between the two opposing teams.

Georgian players in action against Turkey in the opening match of the tournament. Photo: Georgian Ice Hockey Federation.

Georgia won with clean sheet in both second and third periods and conceded the only goal in the opening section.

Their opponents became the third team to make way for the progress of coach Roland Svanidze’s players.

The team defeated Turkey with a score 6:2 in their opening match of the World Championship before also overcoming Bulgaria, their major challenger for progression to higher level of competition, with a 5:3 result.

Their next match will come against hosts South Africa later today, with the final fixture scheduled against Taiwan.

The Georgian national team photographed at the tournament. Photo: Georgian Ice Hockey Federation.

Of the six teams in Division III, only one will be promoted to the higher division for next year’s World Championship. Wins in the remaining two games would guarantee Georgia the spot.

The team's progress at the tournament is notable on the backdrop of a lack of resources for the sport not particularly known for its popularity in Georgia.

However, the results scored in Cape Town are accompanied with ongoing work and plans for more Georgian state support for hockey, through a construction of a new ice rink in the seaside city Batumi and talks of opening another arena in capital Tbilisi.

Georgia won a three-team 2016 Ankara Cup competition in Turkey that also involved hosts and national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 2009.