Ukraine’s biggest international floorball tournament, the Ukraine Open, was organised in the city of Lviv.

The Ukraine Open was held in Lviv, Ukraine 6-12.6. Ukraine’s biggest international floorball tournament was attended by 54 teams from six countries. The tournament had six different categories: Men, Women and four different age categories for boys.

The first three days of Ukraine Open were devoted to junior matches. The foreign teams from Switzerland, Great Britain, Latvia, Belarus and Poland prepared for their games by watching the juniors play:
– This was the first time in the history of Ukraine Open, that the juniors were playing in the same venue as the adults. We plan to continue this trend and will work actively in order to bring new junior teams to the tournament, not only Ukrainian but also foreign teams, says the President of Lviv Regional Floorball Federation and organiser of the tournament Roman Lozinski.

The former head coach of Ukraine’s national team, Tamuz Hidir, was also following the tournament:
– I have been to every Ukraine Open since the beginning. And I can say that there has been considerable growth in both the level of organisation and professionalism. This year’s attendance, 54 teams, is a new record for the tournament. Also the foreign teams are coming back after a two-year-break. This tournament is our window to the international arena.

The Women’s category was won by a Latvian team called Gold Diggers. In the men’s category Hastings Predators from Great Britain won gold after defeating Vimba from Latvia. The captain of Hastings Predators, Kaspars Maksimovs, was happy with his team and the tournament:
– In fact we didn’t have any easy matches during the tournament. Every match was hard and we faced worthy opponents. I am very pleased to see the high organization of the tournament and hope to return to Ukraine Open 2017.

Ukraine Open on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/ukraineopenfloorball
Photos: Adam Troy