Kazakhstan to play against Norway in the first match of Bandy World Championship

Kazakhstan national team will meet with Norway team in the first match of Bandy World Championship that will start in Almaty on January 29, Tengrinews.kz reports, referring to Sportinfo.kz. 15 teams will take part in the tournament and it is a record number for Bandy Championships. Finland, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Latvia, the Netherlands, Canada, Mongolia, Belarus, Hungary, Japan, Estonia and Kyrgyzstan will fight for gold in the competition. The participants have been divided into three sub-groups (A, B and C). The Championship will be held at two sports sites. One is Medeu Sports Complex (high altitude skating rink) and the other one is Almaty Central Stadium’s pitch. The opening of the tournament will take place at Medeu on January 29 at 2 p.m. The match between Sweden and Finland will open the competition. Almaty World Bandy Championship will finish on February 5. Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice (unofficially known as Russian hockey), in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.