Men’s EuroHockey Championship III (Kirklareli, Türkiye) – day one round-up
A day of comebacks and new records in Kirklareli as Bulgaria, Finland and Luxembourg got their first ever points at men’s outdoor EuroHockey Championship III level on a day when they all debuted in this tier.
Ukraine and Türkiye, meanwhile, ran up healthy wins in Kirklareli to start their tournaments on the front foot.
** Click here to see further stats from the tournament.
Pool A
Ukraine 9 Malta 1
Ukraine eased to victory over Malta in the opening game with Oleksandr Solomianyi’s hat trick in the first 20 minutes laying the base for the victory. In addition to goals from Rostyslav Yakovenko and a Vitalii Shevchuk penalty stroke, they built a 5-0 half-time lead and added four more in the second half to counter-act Alessandro Amore’s 33rd minute goal.
Hungary 1 Bulgaria 2
In the battle of the comeback teams, Bulgaria came back from a goal down at half-time to defeat Hungary 2-1 with Georgi Baklev and Ventsislav Balev scoring with two minutes of each other in Q3.
It was their first appearance in a EuroHockey Championship game since 2013 – and a debut at this level of competition – with Hungary making their return for the first time since 2019. Marton Wesselenyi gave Hungary a first half lead before their opponents turned things around after the big break.
Pool B
Finland 2 Luxembourg 2
Finland and Luxembourg shared the spoils after a lively battle, one which saw the latter earn their first ever point from a EuroHockey Championship fixture; for both, this was their first ever game at Championship III level.
Luxembourg took the lead early in Q2 via Oscar Lutgen only for Aaron Lehmus to level quickly. Luxembourg led again via Pavel Singh but, after a series of corners, Emil Könönen made it 2-2.
Türkiye 8 Lithuania 0
Hosts Türkiye proved too strong for Lithuania as two goals in the first quarter from Mehmet Aydin put them in control and they never looked back. The rest of the goals were shared between Celal Aydin, Ali Akin Özkiliç, Furkan Mehmet Özkiliç, Furkan Ataş and Müslüm Elagöz.
| Rank | Team | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Türkiye | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Finland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Luxembourg | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
Tuesday schedule
