Legendary hockey star Fetisov believes in Russia’s success at 2022 Olympics

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Players of the Russian national ice hockey team must prove the skeptics wrong, who doubt that the team can win the 2022 Olympics in China, two-time Olympic Champion and three-time Stanley Cup winner Vyacheslav Fetisov said on Monday. "The Olympic tournament, in which I used to play and coach as well, is full of different surprises," Fetisov told journalists. "We are full of skepticism, but we have an outstanding lineup of goalkeepers and mega forwards. With the [proper] organization of the play we can count on enormous success." "We need everyone to approach the [Olympic] matches in a good physical shape without injuries and try to refute the skeptics," Fetisov added. At the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang, the Russian national ice hockey team played under the status of the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) and eventually won the Olympic gold defeating Germany 4-3 in sudden death overtime of the final match. The ice hockey competition at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing will run between February 9 and 20. The team of Russian ice hockey players was seeded in Group B along with the squads from Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Denmark. Team ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) will play its Group B matches against Switzerland on February 9, Denmark - on February 11 and the Czech Republic - on February 12. The national ice hockey federations had to announce at least three names of their players before October 8, who were set to travel to China for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Eleven out of 12 national teams (except hosts China) already announced the names of their three selected players. The press service of the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) stated on October 8 that Russia’s NHL hockey stars Alexander Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevsky were the first players to enter the roster of their national team for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China. 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are scheduled to be held between February 4 and 20, while the Paralympic Winter Games will be held on March 4-13. During the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015, Beijing was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games making the Chinese capital the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2008) as well as the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2022). Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Olympics and Paralympics in a tight race, beating Kazakhstan’s Almaty in 2015, by chalking up 44 votes against its rival’s 40. Read more