“The tournament went very well.”
That’s what Alexander Blinov, head coach of Ojag Sport club’s 2013–2015-born hockey team, told Idman.biz while evaluating their performance at the Galaxy Cup international tournament held in Dubai, UAE.
Blinov emphasized the positive aspects of the event:
“We prepared seriously for the tournament. We understood the responsibility of representing Azerbaijan. Although our preparation time was limited, we worked hard on both technical and theoretical aspects during daily training sessions. Despite being the youngest team and having many players who only started hockey 6–8 months ago, we won a bronze medal. Since this was our first tournament, our main goal was to gain match experience and face real opponents. We play a lot during training, but practice and real competition are entirely different. I rate the team’s performance as ‘5+’ — our players managed to achieve a successful result.”
He also outlined his future goals:
“We’ve set big targets. We are already receiving invitations to participate in tournaments in various countries. We’re currently exploring these opportunities. Our most important goal is to ensure Azerbaijan's national hockey team becomes a member of the international federation and competes in events like the World Championship and the Olympics. We know this will take time, but this is exactly what we’re aiming for.”
This was the debut appearance for the team in a tournament that featured six clubs.
Aytaj Sahed
Idman.biz
