“Sport should be a tool for unification.” KHL players will continue to be called up to the Slovakian national team

The Slovak Hockey Federation decided that they would continue to call up hockey players from the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) to the national team.

– We will invite players to the national team in accordance with their current form, and not in accordance with the league in which they play.

The Executive Committee and the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation will always respect international agreements and the current legislation of the country. We believe that the players who are now in Russia do not violate any international agreements or our laws. We will rely on the Olympic Charter, according to which sport should be an instrument of unification, the Slovak Federation said in a statement.

At the moment, seven Slovak hockey players play in the KHL: goalkeepers Patrik Rybar (Spartak, Moscow) and Adam Huska (Torpedo, Nizhny Novgorod), defensemen Michal Tchaikovsky (Siberia, Novosibirsk) and Christian Jarosh (Avangard, Omsk), forwards Michal Krishtof (Admiral, Vladivostok), Adam Lischka (Severstal, Cherepovets) and Samuel Buchek (Neftekhimik, Nizhnekamsk).

Earlier, the executive committee of the Czech Ice Hockey Federation decided not to invite players from the KHL to the national team. In May, the general manager of the Finnish national team announced the same decision. In April, the Saeima of Latvia legally banned the athletes of their country from competing in tournaments in Russia and Belarus.