Two-time Olympic champion Boris Mayorov expressed the opinion that the World Hockey Championship will lose only due to the absence of the Russian team.
– About my own feelings, I can say: without the Russian team, I lost interest in the tournament. Before, I was always looking forward to the World Cup, for many years I flew to the countries where it was held. Last year, too, I sat in front of the TV with pleasure and studied not only our matches, but also our main opponents to compare them with our team and to predict theoretically their chances of winning. Now, to be honest, I forgot that the championship was about to begin. Without our team, this is of little interest to me. So what kind of World Cup is this without one of the strongest teams participating? The Russia-Canada match has always left its mark.
– Matches against our team have always been one of the biggest challenges for other teams. Do you agree?
– Certainly. I often wonder – is the IIHF happy with this decision or does it already regret it? Judging by what has happened in the West, there is no remorse. The same slogan in all fields, including sports: “Russia is bad, it must be punished. Better yet, destroy and then divide.” But for international hockey, not having a team at the World Championships is a huge loss. And how things will develop is still unknown. As a result, we were even banned from participating in Eurotour for two years. Rude attitude towards our country and our team.
– By the way, it was often Russia that brought a large number of NHL stars to the championships, thereby raising their status.
– That’s right too. Also, in our national team, the bet on overseas players was not always justified. But it has been very beneficial for the tournament as a whole. After all, well-known names are an additional attraction of spectators to the stands. Yes, and experts are interested.
– A lot of Russian fans can come to Finland. It turns out that the organizers are depriving themselves of profits?
– Exactly. I don’t think fans from other European countries can make up for the lack of supporters from Russia. Finland is near, we have a very solid diaspora there. Tens of thousands of Russians live there, they have their own newspaper and radio. According to Match TV, Mayorov, they would definitely come to cheer for our team.
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