Putin signals start of gala match of Amateur Ice Hockey Teams' Festival
SOCHI. May 10 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a gala match closing the second Amateur Ice Hockey Teams' Festival in Sochi on Friday.
After his visit to Olympic sites, Putin came to the Grand Ice Hockey Arena to congratulate the winners of the festival organized by the Night Hockey League and to watch a demonstration match between amateurs and Russian ice hockey veterans.
The president signaled the match start with faceoff.
The Night Hockey League star team and a team of Russian regions played the match. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and governors of the Chelyabinsk and Tver regions and the Krasnoyarsk territory played for the Russian ice hockey stars.
Putin has several times taken part in matches of the Night Hockey League established with his backing.
Traditionally, he wears number 11.
The Russian president had his latest ice hockey match in June 2012. After negotiations with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, both leaders took part in an ice hockey match in the Leningrad region. They were members of one team.
The Russian president started learning to skate in winter 2011 after he had given that promise to members of the Russian junior ice hockey team. Merited Master of Sport Alexei Kasatonov trained Putin.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Interfax the president trained occasionally: "sometimes once a week, sometimes once in two weeks and sometimes a few days in a row." "Every time that happened late at night; the [then] premier went training on his way home," he said.
Putin told reporters he "was using a chair at first because he had never been skating before."
The Night Hockey League was organized on December 15, 2011, after a meeting of Putin with ice hockey veterans who called for promoting amateur ice hockey. The league abbreviated NHL aims to attract adult men to sport. It supports those who prefer playing hockey after work to watching television.
The league organized contests in the age group 40+ across Russia in 2012. It has four divisions now: 40+, 40+ international - twelve teams from Europe and North America - winners of national tournaments, master 45+ - 16 teams of former professional ice hockey players who took part in Russian and Soviet championships - and student. There are trial matches in the division 18+ - 16 amateur teams.
