VILNIUS, January 20. /TASS/. Lithuania has ‘a historic chance’ of hosting matches of the 2021 IIHF (the International Ice Hockey Federation) Ice Hockey World Championship, Lithuanian Minister of Education, Science and Sport Jurgita Siugzdiniene said on Wednesday.
According to reports earlier in the day, Lithuania was mulling to propose Latvia to co-host the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
"Our country never hosted ice hockey competitions of such level and a possibility of organizing the elite tournament is a historic chance for Lithuania," Siugzdiniene stated.
The minister said that Lithuania sent official letters on Wednesday to the IIHF and Latvia with assurances of its readiness to host the championship’s matches.
"Latvia views our proposal very positively and there is a certain progress with the international federation," she said. "Today we have sent official letters to both of them."
According to Siugzdiniene, the letters state that if Lithuania is granted the right for co-hosting the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship, the country will be ready to receive participants of the tournament’s group stage matches.
The IIHF Council announced on Monday a decision to strip the Belarusian capital of Minsk of the right to host matches of the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship and to relocate them to another venue. The IIHF said in a statement that it made this decision "Due to safety and security issues that are beyond the IIHF’s control."
Last Friday, IIHF President Rene Fasel told TASS that Latvia offered to host all matches of the 2021 Ice Hockey Championship at two stadiums in Riga. Fasel also announced last week that a proposal to host championship’s matches came from Denmark and talks were underway with Slovakia as well.
Matches of the 2021 IIHF World Championship in the Latvian capital of Riga and the Belarusian capital of Minsk were scheduled to be played between May 21 and June 6, 2021. However, various European public organizations called on the IIHF to relocate championship’s matches from Minsk due to a tense political situation in Belarus. Tournament’s sponsors also threatened to leave in case Belarus hosted the championship.
Protests in Belarus
Nationwide demonstrations have engulfed Belarus following the August 9, 2020 presidential election. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot.
However, she refused to recognize the election’s outcome, and left Belarus for Lithuania. After the results of the exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other Belarusian cities. During the early post-election period, the rallies snowballed into fierce clashes between the protesters and police.