The Latvian president’s trip to Tampere tells about the importance of puck success for the country.
President of Latvia Egils Levits arrived in Tampere on Sunday for the World Hockey Championships.
Levits arrived at a hotel in Tampere in the morning and left in the morning to tour Tampere and meet Latvian hockey fans. The program also includes a bronze game starting at 3:20 p.m., where Latvia will face the United States.
Levits praised Latvia’s historical success in an interview with Iltalehti. Latvia is a tough puck country, but never before had it made it to the top four at the World Championships.
– This is our biggest achievement in hockey ever. Now Latvia belongs to the four best hockey countries in the world, Levits declared.
The puck celebrations in Riga were intense when the national team beat Sweden in the quarter-final match. In the semifinals, Canada won, but on Sunday, the country will be frantically chasing bronze.
– The atmosphere in Riga was crazy. It also continues to be crazy, and this is a great start to the summer, Levits said.
Riga, the capital of Latvia, and Tampere organized this year’s WC tournament in liaison work at short notice. New organizers had to be found for the games originally awarded to Russia, which were chosen in Tampere a year ago.
Leijonat was eliminated in the quarterfinals, but many Finns have since supported Latvia.
– Ice hockey is the number one sport in both countries. In other parts of the world, it’s soccer. Latvians feel connected to Finns and Finns to Latvians. Now the Finns should support Latvia, Levits said.
Levits also cracked a joke about Latvia’s excellent goalkeeper from Arturs Silovs. In Latvia, it has been said with a twinkle in the eye that Silovs should become the country’s next defense minister.
– I will offer him a position in the next government, Levits said.
Egils Levits photographed in Reykjavik earlier in May. EPA/AOP