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Vladimir Putin plays ice-hockey with legendary Russian players, youth team

The match, which also involved such legendary Russian players like Vyacheslav Fetisov, Pavel Bure, Valery Kamensky, Alexander Ovechkin, Yevgeny Malkin and others, was held in the Shayba Olympic Arena

SOCHI, September 1. /TASS/. The "Hockey Legends" team for which Russian President Vladimir Putin was playing has won a match on Tuesday against the Sirius youth team from the educational centre of the same name in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. The match ended with the score 9:5.

After the game Putin thanked the youth team for the game and congratulate them on their excellent play.

The match, which also involved such legendary Russian players like Vyacheslav Fetisov, Pavel Bure, Valery Kamensky, Alexander Ovechkin, Yevgeny Malkin and others, was held in the Shayba Olympic Arena.

Sometimes the match was taking a very emotional turn. Once, the referee even had to stop the match, because one of the Sirius players clashed with Fetisov. However, when the game ended all the players traditionally exchanged handshakes.

Putin, who has relatively not long ago mastered the sport, has repeatedly participated in friendly matches. For example, his previous ice hockey match was in May - when he hit the ice in the Night Hockey League final. Putin made one of his first appearances on an ice hockey rink in 2012 within a similar Night Hockey League tournament, despite the fact that the game took place just a few hours after his inauguration.

In addition to participating in tournaments with hockey players, Putin has several times invited to ice rinks his colleagues - politicians, in particular, the presidents of Finland and Belarus.