Italian team tests positive for COVID-19 ahead of 2021 IIHF World Championship in Latvia

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM - Fifteen members of the Italian national ice hockey team’s players and staff, including Head Coach Greg Ireland, have been reported to be diagnosed with positive COVID-19 cases ahead of the 2021 IIHF (the International Ice Hockey Federation) Ice Hockey World Championship, a senior official with the IIHF Council announced to DPA news agency on Monday, TASS reports.

The German-based DPA news agency reported citing IIHF Council’s member Franz Reindl as saying that «15 positive COVID-19 cases were reported to be registered in the Italian national team,» and they include Italy’s Head Coach Greg Ireland.

The 2021 Ice Hockey Championship will be hosted by the Latvian capital of Riga between May 21 and June 6. The championship will be played at two venues in Riga.

The main venue will be the Arena Riga and it will host Group B, two quarter-final games, the semi-final round and the medal round. The second venue will be the Olympic Sports Centre, which will be converted into a 6,000-capacity ice rink and will host Group A and two quarter-final games. All 16 participating teams will be housed in one hotel.

The Russian national team has been placed in Group A alongside the national teams from Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, Belarus and Great Britain. Group B lists the teams from Canada, Finland, the United States, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Italy and Kazakhstan.