Because of this, shortly before the World Championship in Riga, the national team was forced to change the head coach, the head of the organizing committee of the championship, Edgars Buntis,

told the portal Rus.lsm.lv.

This is due to the fact that the organizers of the world hockey championship decided to deny the participation of citizens of Russia and Belarus, they will not be issued visas to enter Latvia.

The decision had the greatest impact on the national team of Kazakhstan, whose head coach was Belarusian Andrei Skabelka until April 14.

On April 14, the Hockey Federation of Kazakhstan appointed Galym Mambetaliyev, who also headed it in 2018, as the head coach of the national team.

Visas were also denied to two more representatives of the coaching staff and support staff of the Kazakh team, the publication notes.