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WINTER

Sweden spanks Belarus with record 28 goals

The Swedish national bandy team scorched Belarus on the ice on Tuesday night, tallying a record 28 goals against the opposition's one in qualifying rounds of the bandy world championships.

Published: 30 January 2013 10:31 CET

Sweden spanks Belarus with record 28 goals

Less than six minutes into the match, Sweden’s Daniel Andersson had already netted a hat trick of goals himself – and that was just the beginning.

In what became one of the more one-sided bandy matches history, the Swedes dismantled the Belarusians 28-1 in Vänersborg, western Sweden, in front of a 2,000-strong crowd.

“You can put it this way: That’s a lot of goals,” said expert TV4 commentator Per Fosshaug.

Andersson finished with a team high five goals.

Netting the only goal for Belarus was Konstantin Savchenko, who snuck one past the Swedish netminder in the 82nd minute.

RELATED PHOTO GALLERY: Scenes from the 2013 Bandy World Championships

Although the Swedes found the net once more after that, Savchenko’s goal prevented the Swedes from posting a shutout, and ruined their chances of beating the international bandy scoring record of 32-0, held by Norway.

“It’s hard to be motivated when you already know you’re going to win,” said Daniel Andersson to the TT news agency.

The result was the second drubbing in a row for Belarus, who went down to Finland on Monday 21-2.

The game was part of the 2013 Bandy World Championships, which pits 14 countries against one another, and is this year held in Sweden, the defending world champions.

Bandy, a game similar to ice-hockey but with a ball instead of a puck, a bigger rink, and more players, is a popular winter sport in Sweden.

A similar version of the sport, called “innebandy” in Swedish and floorball in English, is played indoors on hardwood and is also popular among Swedes.

Sweden continue their quest to repeat as bandy world champions with a match against Norway on Wednesday night.

TT/The Local/og

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UPDATE: Germany-Russia flights resume after tit-for-tat cancellations

Lufthansa flights await takeoff at Munich Airport. Photo: Christof Stache/AFP

German airline Lufthansa told AFP that the Russian authorities had finally granted it clearance for passenger flights to Russia in June.

“That means Lufthansa flights to Moscow and Saint Petersburg can be operated as planned,” said a spokeswoman for the airline.

In Russia, Mikhail Poluboyarinov, chief executive of Aeroflot told the TASS news agency: “Everything is fine, we have received all the authorisations.”

And another Russian airline, S7, said it too had received clearance for its flights to Germany, the Ria Novosti agency reported.

Earlier Wednesday, Germany’s transport ministry said it had blocked flights operated by Russian airlines from arriving in its territory after Moscow failed to provide authorisations for Lufthansa.

Two Russia-bound Lufthansa flights due to depart earlier Wednesday from Germany had been cancelled because Russian authorities did not provide the necessary permits for them in time, the ministry said.

“Due to the reciprocal practice, the Federal Aviation Authority also did not issue any further permits for flights operated by Russian airlines as long as authorisations are pending on the Russian side,” it added.

Three Aeroflot flights were affected by the cancellations on Tuesday and another four on Wednesday, the ministry said.

“Once permits for Lufthansa flights are granted by the Russian site, the flights of Russian airlines will also be authorised,” it added.

Previous cancellations

Neither the ministry nor the airlines concerned mentioned the reason for the flights being blocked.

But some flights operated by European airlines including Air France and Austrian Airlines — a subsidiary of Lufthansa — were cancelled last week after Moscow rejected flight plans that would have skipped Belarusian airspace.

Lufthansa has confirmed that it is no longer flying over Belarus after the EU urged airlines to avoid the country’s airspace.

READ ALSO: Germany summons Belarus envoy over forced Ryanair landing

The EU’s advice came after the Belarusian regime forced the diversion of a Ryanair Athens-Vilnius plane to Minsk in order to arrest an opposition journalist on board.

Moscow last week said the cancellation of several European flights to Moscow was down to “technical reasons”.

Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic control in the EU, said flights between Europe and Russia “have permission to use defined air corridors.

“If one company changes these routes, there has to be prior agreement between the company concerned and Russia.”

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