Tashkent, Uzbekistan, August 6, 2023: The senior Olympic Council of Asia official behind the organisation of the OCA/IIHF U16 Asian Ice Hockey Youth Camp has praised the International Ice Hockey Federation for the unprecedented support received towards making the week-long event an outstanding success.
With just one day to go before the first ever collaboration between the OCA and a winter sports international federation draws to an end, Tony Tarraf, OCA Head of Athletes Development Department and Special Projects, paid fulsome tribute to the IIHF for the backing given to making this “historic” event a triumph.
“We have had many similar camps in the past in other sports, but I must say this time the support we received from the International Federation was exceptional. The IIHF has been involved in all areas, especially on the technical side, and this has made the camp a huge success,” Tarraf noted.
In its bid to promote and develop sports across athletes, coaches and referees and umpires, the OCA always reaches out to the international governing body for help on the technical side asking for qualified instructors and coaches.
The support from the IIHF for the August 1-7 camp in Tashkent has been nothing short of spectacular with a total of nine expert instructors being on hand. IIHF Sport Development Manager for Asia and Oceania, Harald Springfeld, has overseen the ice specific programme.
The nine instructors have expertise in all areas, from goal-tending to forward and defence play resulting in the minutiae of the sport being looked after. They have been mentoring not only the student athletes but also the coaches and game officials from Asia.
“This level of involvement on the technical side is unprecedented. This proves the commitment of the IIHF. By having experts on the ground, it has resulted in a rise in the technical levels at this camp,” said Tarraf, who has been ably assisted in the organisation by Wissam Trkmani, OCA Projects and Operations Manager.
In a bid to push the development of winter sports, the OCA for the first time decided to have a development camp for student athletes in a winter sport.
“It is a historic occasion. The reason we decided on a winter sport and ice hockey is that with two Asian Winter Games coming up, as well as the Winter Olympics, we felt it was important to invest and develop youth with an eye on the future,” Tarraf said.
Unlike previous camps, the OCA together with the IIHF went through the applications for this camp with a fine tooth comb. “This was the first time that we had criteria for selection of the athletes. We had a preliminary long list and from that a short list was created with equal opportunities for three participants from each NOC,” he added.
A total of 27 Asian NOCs are participating along with Australia and New Zealand. The week-long camp ends on Monday, August 7 but, according to Tarraf, this is just the start of an odyssey for ice hockey in Asia.
“The IIHF has a huge interest in Asia and, with the OCA, share common objectives. Both our goals are to further develop the sport. This is a camp to build on for the future, and is bound to have a huge impact on the sport in Asia,” Tarraf concluded.