Other events in Baltic States

With just few days left until the beginning of the final qualification tournament for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Leonids Beresnevs has resigned as the head coach of the Latvian national men’s ice hockey team, the Latvian Hockey Federation announce cites LETA.

Beresnevs has resigned for personal reasons, and experienced Latvian ice hockey coach Haralds Vasiljevs will step in as the head coach for the Olympic qualification tournament.

Beresnevs has coached the Latvian national men’s ice hockey team three times - from 1995 to 1999 and in 2005-2006 when Latvia finished in the last or 12th place in the 2006 Torino Olympics. He was appointed as the head coach for the third time in February this year.

Vasiljevs served as the head coach from 1999 to 2001. He led the Latvian national team to the 8th place in the 2000 IIHF World Championship in St. Petersburg and helped the team to win its ticket to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in the Olympic qualification tournament in 2001.

The Group E final qualification tournament for Pyeongchang 2018 will take place in Riga on September 1-4 this year. Latvian, German, Austrian and Japanese teams will be competing in Group E, and the winner will advance to the 2018 Winter Olympics.