BEIJING, February 7. /TASS/. Russian ice hockey players will not be playing friendly matches before the start of the Olympic competitions at the Beijing-hosted 2022 Winter Games, Ilya Kovalchuk, general manager of ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) ice hockey team, said on Monday.
The Russians were scheduled to play a friendly against Team Latvia on February 5, but the game was cancelled due to a number of reported positive COVID-19 cases among players in the Latvian squad. Earlier, reports suggested that Team ROC would go up against someone else in a pre-Olympic friendly match.
"The team of Russian players will not be performing exhibition matches," Kovalchuk told journalists.
Three friendly matches are scheduled for Monday within the framework of the 2022 Olympics, namely between the United States and Canada, Denmark and Latvia, Slovakia and Germany.
The ice hockey competition at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing will run between February 9 and 20. The team of Russian ice hockey players was seeded in Group B along with the squads from Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Denmark. Team ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) will play its Group B matches against Switzerland on February 9. It will then go on to play against Denmark on February 11, and against the Czech Republic on February 12.
At the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang, the Russian national ice hockey team played under the status of Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) and eventually won the Olympic gold defeating Germany 4-3 in sudden death overtime in the final match.
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are running from February 4-20. During the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015, Beijing was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games making the Chinese capital the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2008) as well as the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2022).
Russian athletes at Beijing-2022
Due to international sanctions against Russian sports, athletes from Russia are competing in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing under the flag and logo of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) instead of the Russian national flag and state emblem.
The national anthem of Russia is also under sanctions at the Olympics in China. The First Piano Concerto by Pyotr Tchaikovsky was selected to be played at awarding ceremonies for Russian Olympians in Beijing.