Czech inline hockey players won the silver medal at the World Games in Birmingham, losing in the last minute against USA in the final, four minutes short of gold. The Czech inline hockey team won the third Czech medal in Birmingham. Photo credit: Freepik
Czech Republic, July 14 (BD) – The Czech inline hockey team was unable to defend their gold from Wroclaw 2017 at the World Games in Birmingham, losing to the United States 1:2 in overtime in the final. Nathan Sigmund scored at 42:37 to decide the match. The US won their fourth gold in their fifth inline hockey tournament at the World Games.
“The team stepped up as it should, we made it to the final where we took on the US. We heard it was going to be a clear-cut final, but in the end, though we were able to fight back, we just missed a little bit. There were chances to get within two goals. Maybe we pulled a little bit. The US are great on skates, it’s hard to match them. Maybe next time,” said number 42 Patrik Šebek.
Petr Kafka, captain of the team, was the most productive player of the tournament with 11 goal points and 10 assists from five games. He played in the past two seasons in the First Hockey League for Slavia and has played 200 games in the Extraliga for Sparta, Kladno, Olomouc and Vítkovice.
“We are happy, the medal is great. And to play a final like this with the Americans, this strong, is a great achievement. They are players who play inline hockey for a living. We are half inline hobbyists, we are hockey players. We also have guys who do it for a living, but for us it’s still an amateur sport in the Czech Republic. They play it completely differently than we do,” said Kafka.
