There will be two Under 19 World Championships to open the “Mondiali dei Mondiali”. From tomorrow evening the ribbon cutting with the opening ceremony in the streets of the city of Novara will open the long Rink Hockey event which will thrill the Italian public for at least two weeks. It is a very important moment for Italy which returns to organize a Rink Hockey World Championships after 30 years, since 1984, right in Novara and 1993 in Lodi/Bassano/Sesto. It is also a very important moment for all the Under 19 actors, a showcase for the whole world of Rink Hockey, eager to savor the level of youth competition, always capable of impressing with the competitive spirit and intensity of the protagonists.
Yesterday at 18:30 in Piazza Duomo in Novara the first two competitions of the seven scheduled will officially open. The entire day, however, will have training sessions at Pala Dal Lago and Pala Novarello, where the teams will have half an hour to adapt to the wooden floor.
The first match will be China-Macau for the Intercontinental Championship at 9:00 on Sunday 8 September in the “Pala Novarello” sports facility. The “World Championship B” (as called in the past) is made up of 12 teams, an absolute record in the last four editions and very close to the absolute records of the competition in previous decades. Group A included Germany, Egypt, Macau, USA, PR China and Great Britain, while Group B included Angola, Andorra, Chinese Taipei, India, New Zealand and Mexico. A round robin will determine the ranking, while the finals will be scheduled for Friday 13th and Saturday 14th September.
The World Championship, however, will have 8 teams, divided into two groups: Group A, Argentina, Switzerland, Chile and Spain, Group B, Portugal, Colombia, France and Italy. Also in this round robin the ranking of each group will decide and will be played at the Pala Dal Lago sport facility. On Thursday the quarter-finals, after the day of rest and the change of rink on Wednesday, will be the clash between the groups that will determine the top four who will play for the medals between Friday and Saturday. From Thursday the game will be played at the “Pala Igor” and the champion will be announced on Saturday at 21:00. Argentina is the holder of the title, but the fight for the title will also open up to all the European competitors, Portugal and Spain first and foremost who have demonstrated to have a great feeling in the European youth teams, in terms of victories and appearances in European finals. However, the podium will also be extended to other national teams such as Italy and France, in a context where Chile, Colombia and Switzerland can also raise their voices.
All the matches of these two world championships will be live streamed on www.worldskate.tv and all the competitions will be available on demand, together with all the highlights.
Comunicato Stampa FIHP – Federazione Italiana Hockey e Pattinaggio
