MINSK – After an eventful May for Belarus with a disappointing 13th-place finish at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship followed by the successful bid to host the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk, Belarus, and Riga, Latvia, the Belarusian Ice Hockey Association elected a new President for four years.

At the recent extra-ordinary election meeting that was attended by several high-ranked government officials underlining the importance of the event, outgoing President Igor Rachkovski announced his decision to resign after three years and Semyon Shapiro was elected almost unanimously as new President. Following his appointment he was also elected as a Vice President of the National Olympic Committee.

The 55-year-old, an economist from the agribusiness area, joins the federation after a political career including posts as Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Belarus (2008-2010), as Chairman of the Grodno Region Executive Committee (2010-2013) and as Chairman of the Minsk Region Executive Committee (2013-2017), a post he held until his election. For two terms he was also a parliamentarian in the Council of the Republic of Belarus, the upper house in the Belarusian parliamentary system (2008-2016).

“The federation has done a lot of work in recent years. The whole world recognizes us as a hockey power. The last victory we had in Cologne. [Winning with the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship bid] is a great achievement of Igor Rachovski,” Shapiro said in his speech.

“You have never heard my name among the hockey family. But although I had worked all my life in agriculture, when I arrived in Grodno and became governor, I fell in love with hockey. I noticed certain rules: In Grodno, there have always been loyal discussions on all questions that led to accurate results. The principles of management are similar everywhere. I don’t tend to do a cleansing but everybody knows me as a tough and demanding guy. Without this no results will happen.”

After missing out on the quarter-finals for two consecutive years, Belarus aims at getting back to a top-eight placement at the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Denmark. Next season Belarus will be represented in the top division of all men’s categories for the first time since 2003. The U20 national team was promoted to the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship while the U18 team stays in the top division after a ninth-place finish last month.

MARTIN MERK