Kazakhstan women’s national team earns bronze at the Asian Championship

The second-ever Asian Women’s Ice Hockey Championship has wrapped up in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The Kazakhstan national team featured eight players representing Tomiris, led by the coaching duo of Alexander Tebenko and Zhasulan Orazbayev.

Facing the more experienced teams from Japan and China, Kazakhstan suffered two defeats (both 0–6). However, in what effectively became the bronze-medal game, Tebenko’s squad battled hard to claim a 3–1 victory thanks to goals from Pernesh Ashimova, Anastasia Orazbayeva, and Sofia Zubkova.

As a result, Team Kazakhstan took home the bronze medals of the Asian Championship. As expected, Japan won the tournament, with China finishing second. Tomiris goaltender Arina Shchyokolova was named Kazakhstan’s best player of the tournament. Other medalists from Tomiris include Yulia Butorina, Dariya Moldabay, Alexandra Voronova, Ekaterina Kutsenko, Anastasia Orazbayeva, Nadezhda Filimonova, and Alexandra Shegai.

“We only got together four days before the start of the tournament,” said head coach Alexander Tebenko. “It’s tough to build a team in such a short time, especially when the players hadn’t played together for eight months. The first games didn’t go well — we were searching for our rhythm and the right line combinations. But by the end of the tournament, the team came together. It was a great event with strong opponents. Japan plays in the elite division — we normally wouldn’t get the chance to face them without putting in a huge amount of work to reach that level. China plays in Division I, and Korea is our frequent opponent — this was probably our fifth meeting with them over the past year, and we’ve won all five. It’s an important tournament that gives us valuable experience, helps us see how other teams are developing, and motivates us to keep moving forward.”

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