photo: © Mehmet Zahit Düzgün
Kyrgyzstan celebrates its third promotion in four years after clinching gold at the 2025 IIHF World Championship Division III Group A in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Goals from Sultan Ismanov, Mikhail Chuvalov, and Mamed Seifulov secured Kyrgyzstan a 3-1 victory over Türkiye in the final match for gold, played in front of a passionate home crowd of 1,938 fans. Mikhail Chekanov’s Kyrgyz team rolled through Division 3A undefeated, claiming five straight wins and a remarkable goal difference of 27-5. The Central Asians are now set to compete in uncharted territory as they move up to Division II Group B next year.
The Kyrgyz team's triumph at the Zeytinburnu Ice Rink in Istanbul represents yet another significant step up the World Championship ladder. Since they began competing in the World Championship in 2022, Kyrgyzstan has lost only once in 19 games.
"It feels amazing. When we first started we set out a destination for ourselves to get to Division II and that is our level of hockey at the moment," said Kyrgyzstan´s Islambek Abdyraev.
24-year-old Abdyraev was named the top forward of the tournament in Istanbul. He is one of 12 players on the Kyrgyz roster who remain from the team debuting at the 2022 World Championship Division IV. Their only blip in World Championship play came last season on home ice in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. Despite emphatically outshot Thailand 55-22 but sufferered a devastating 9-4 loss which temporarily halted their momentum and kept them in Division IIIA for another season.
"It was a terrible feeling at the time and a mistake to lose our first game, but I guess that is what we needed to get back on track this year. The main guys on the team are still the same from the start. We are young, we can skate and we never give up," said Abdyraev.
En route to their most recent gold in Istanbul, Kyrgyzstan opened with a 5-2 routine win versus South Africa. Next, Luxembourg withstood the pressure for one period, before Kyrgyzstan ran away with a 6-0 scoreline with Abdyraev scoring twice and adding an assist.
Two powerplay goals contributed when seeing off Bosnia & Herzegovina 5-1 before Kyrgyzstan got into their stride on Day Four against Turkmenistan. Limiting their opponents to just eleven shots, Abdyraev opened the scoring as the Kyrgyz sprinted into a four-goal lead after less than 15 minutes played in an emphatic 8-1 victory. They completed their perfect week by methodically scoring a goal in each period to defeat Türkiye 3-1 in their first-ever meeting.
"Next year will be completely different with tougher opponents. But even this year the level has improved. Two years ago we beat Bosnia 10-1. Now they have gotten much better, and it´s nice to see other national teams developing," said Abdyraev.
Turkmenistan secured a silver medal with Kerven Baylyyev and Aleksandr Vahovskiy scoring in the Central Asians' memorable 2-1 win on Day Two versus Türkiye. In a pulsating final-day encounter, the Turkmens rallied back from a three-goal deficit to beat South Africa in overtime. Amangeldi Aganiyazov beat the buzzer for a last-gasp game-tying goal before Baylyyev stepped up 1:46 into overtime to complete the turnaround in a memorable 6-5 triumph.
Emrah Savas, Ferhat Bakal, and the Kars brothers, Omer and Yusuf, remained from the Türkiye roster that last clinched gold in Istanbul at this level in 2016. Having come down from Division II Group B for this year, the Turks needed a regulation time win versus Kyrgyzstan on the final day to secure top position. Bakal briefly gave the host team hope with his equalizing second-period goal versus Kyrgyzstan on the final day but in the end, the Turks had to settle for three wins and two losses and a disappointing third-place finish.
A small consolation for the hosts was that Türkiye's debutant, Sava Voronov, was nominated by the tournament directorate as the top goalkeeper. The 26-year-old stopped 93.60% of the shots he faced for a GAA of 1.62.
Kyrgyzstan´s Kuzma Terentyev celebrated his third World Championship gold by being named the tournament´s best defender. Two Kyrgyz players also featured at the top end of the scoring charts. Seifulov led the competition in scoring with 9 (6+3) points with team-mate Chuvalov in third tallying 7 (3+4) from five games.
South Africa, skating with the oldest team in the tournament finished in fourth place. Meanwhile, the next generation fired newcomers Bosnia & Herzegovina to safety. 17-year-old Faris Capin scored his first couple of World Championship goals as the Bosnians beat Luxembourg 6-2 to remain in the division.
Despite Colm Cannon finishing second in scoring with eight points, last season's bronze medal winner, Luxembourg, has been relegated to next year's Division III Group B.
Goals from Sultan Ismanov, Mikhail Chuvalov, and Mamed Seifulov secured Kyrgyzstan a 3-1 victory over Türkiye in the final match for gold, played in front of a passionate home crowd of 1,938 fans. Mikhail Chekanov’s Kyrgyz team rolled through Division 3A undefeated, claiming five straight wins and a remarkable goal difference of 27-5. The Central Asians are now set to compete in uncharted territory as they move up to Division II Group B next year.
The Kyrgyz team's triumph at the Zeytinburnu Ice Rink in Istanbul represents yet another significant step up the World Championship ladder. Since they began competing in the World Championship in 2022, Kyrgyzstan has lost only once in 19 games.
"It feels amazing. When we first started we set out a destination for ourselves to get to Division II and that is our level of hockey at the moment," said Kyrgyzstan´s Islambek Abdyraev.
24-year-old Abdyraev was named the top forward of the tournament in Istanbul. He is one of 12 players on the Kyrgyz roster who remain from the team debuting at the 2022 World Championship Division IV. Their only blip in World Championship play came last season on home ice in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. Despite emphatically outshot Thailand 55-22 but sufferered a devastating 9-4 loss which temporarily halted their momentum and kept them in Division IIIA for another season.
"It was a terrible feeling at the time and a mistake to lose our first game, but I guess that is what we needed to get back on track this year. The main guys on the team are still the same from the start. We are young, we can skate and we never give up," said Abdyraev.
En route to their most recent gold in Istanbul, Kyrgyzstan opened with a 5-2 routine win versus South Africa. Next, Luxembourg withstood the pressure for one period, before Kyrgyzstan ran away with a 6-0 scoreline with Abdyraev scoring twice and adding an assist.
Two powerplay goals contributed when seeing off Bosnia & Herzegovina 5-1 before Kyrgyzstan got into their stride on Day Four against Turkmenistan. Limiting their opponents to just eleven shots, Abdyraev opened the scoring as the Kyrgyz sprinted into a four-goal lead after less than 15 minutes played in an emphatic 8-1 victory. They completed their perfect week by methodically scoring a goal in each period to defeat Türkiye 3-1 in their first-ever meeting.
"Next year will be completely different with tougher opponents. But even this year the level has improved. Two years ago we beat Bosnia 10-1. Now they have gotten much better, and it´s nice to see other national teams developing," said Abdyraev.
Turkmenistan secured a silver medal with Kerven Baylyyev and Aleksandr Vahovskiy scoring in the Central Asians' memorable 2-1 win on Day Two versus Türkiye. In a pulsating final-day encounter, the Turkmens rallied back from a three-goal deficit to beat South Africa in overtime. Amangeldi Aganiyazov beat the buzzer for a last-gasp game-tying goal before Baylyyev stepped up 1:46 into overtime to complete the turnaround in a memorable 6-5 triumph.
Emrah Savas, Ferhat Bakal, and the Kars brothers, Omer and Yusuf, remained from the Türkiye roster that last clinched gold in Istanbul at this level in 2016. Having come down from Division II Group B for this year, the Turks needed a regulation time win versus Kyrgyzstan on the final day to secure top position. Bakal briefly gave the host team hope with his equalizing second-period goal versus Kyrgyzstan on the final day but in the end, the Turks had to settle for three wins and two losses and a disappointing third-place finish.
A small consolation for the hosts was that Türkiye's debutant, Sava Voronov, was nominated by the tournament directorate as the top goalkeeper. The 26-year-old stopped 93.60% of the shots he faced for a GAA of 1.62.
Kyrgyzstan´s Kuzma Terentyev celebrated his third World Championship gold by being named the tournament´s best defender. Two Kyrgyz players also featured at the top end of the scoring charts. Seifulov led the competition in scoring with 9 (6+3) points with team-mate Chuvalov in third tallying 7 (3+4) from five games.
South Africa, skating with the oldest team in the tournament finished in fourth place. Meanwhile, the next generation fired newcomers Bosnia & Herzegovina to safety. 17-year-old Faris Capin scored his first couple of World Championship goals as the Bosnians beat Luxembourg 6-2 to remain in the division.
Despite Colm Cannon finishing second in scoring with eight points, last season's bronze medal winner, Luxembourg, has been relegated to next year's Division III Group B.