The Turkmenistan national team beat the South African team in overtime (6:5 OT) in the final round of the IIHF World Championship in the third division of group “A”. The regular time of the match in Istanbul ended with a score of 5:5, in overtime the victory was brought to the Turkmen team by a goal by Kerven Bayliyev.
Despite the fact that the Turkmenistan national team lost its chances to win the tournament, the last match of the championship did not lose its significance. Thanks to a successful performance against South Africa, Ilyas Veliyev's team took the final second place in the tournament table. The only defeat from Kyrgyzstan (1:8) prevented Turkmenistan from winning the World Cup and moving up to the second division, where Kyrgyzstan eventually went.
