Hockey players of the youth teams of Russia and the Czech Republic were not allowed to fly from Calgary to Frankfurt. This was announced on Twitter by the journalist of the Swedish TV company SVT Marie Lehmann.
Both teams took part in the 2022 World Youth Hockey Championship in Canada, which was canceled ahead of schedule due to coronavirus.
According to the source, the Czech and Russian teams were removed from the flight when the passengers were already accommodated in the aircraft cabin. Among the reasons – the state of alcoholic intoxication, smoking and refusal to wear masks.
Lehmann also added that not all Czech and Russian hockey players behaved badly, but all of them were denied access to the plane.
“We got on the plane and at that moment noticed that some representatives of the Russian national team did not follow the sanitary rules, and alcohol probably played a role in this. One of the members of the Russian national team even smoked in the tunnel before boarding the plane. Then some passengers complained about the behavior of the Russians, and for this reason the crew took the entire plane out , ”said the manager of the Czech national team.
At the moment, no further action by the Czech and Russian teams has been reported.
“You need to understand that the rules are the same for everyone. Regardless of whether you are a hockey player, a skater or a simple tourist flying on vacation, we are all obliged to comply with the airline’s rules. It makes no sense to blame all the guys, you need to understand who violated and who did not, ”says State Duma deputy Dmitry Svishchev.
Recall that on the night of December 29-30, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced the cancellation of the youth ice hockey world championship.
The tournament started on December 26, several rounds of the group stage passed, and then everyone turned off. The reason is the covid, which began to creep out in teams.