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Olympic torch makes unplanned stop at Fetisov Arena in Vladivostok

The torch came as surprise when two KHL hockey clubs, Admiral and Torpedo, were preparing for a match

© ITAR-TASS/Yuri Smityuk

VLADIVOSTOK, November 15, (ITAR-TASS) - The Olympic torch relay race made an unplanned stop at the Fetisov Arena in Vladivostok on Friday where the teams of two KHL ice-hockey clubs, Admiral and Torpedo, were getting ready for a match. The burning Olympic torch entered the stadium in complete darkness. Alexander Mogilnyi, the head of the Admrial ice-hockey club, carried the torch through the stands between the spectators.

An idea to change the route and take the Olympic torch to the Fetisov Arena in Vladivostok came from Vladimir Miklushevsky, the Governor of Russia’s Primorye region in the Far East, only on Friday. In order to meet the Olympic Committee requirements, the organizers had to take urgent measures to cover all the billboards. Almost all lights went off at the stadium to prevent company logos from getting into photo and television cameras. That made the ceremony even more solemn.

“The Olympic torch has arrived here specially to please the Admiral fans. Our hockey team is the best and Vladivostok is the best city. All of us will remember this moment the whole life,” Miklushevsky said.

The Olympic torch was delivered to Vladivostok from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk earlier on Friday. It had already been taken to the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island. The torch relay race is to start in Vladivostok early on November 16. About 200 local residents will carry the torch across the city streets. They include Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky; Yevgeny Dimov, three-times European Cup champion in badminton; and Ivan Shtyl, a bronze medalist of the London Olympic Games.

The Olympic torch will leave the Primorye region on the Trans-Siberian railway on Saturday evening. The next stage of the relay race will take place in Khabarovsk on November 17.

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