World Hockey Champ in 2015 to be held in Prague and Ostrava

Prague, Dec 10 (CTK) - The Czech Ice Hockey Association (CSLH) will not accept Slovakia's cooperation offer and will stage the 2015 World Hockey Championship alone, CSLH spokesman Zdenek Zikmund has told CTK, adding that the event will take place in Prague and Ostrava, north Moravia, according to schedule.

The cooperation offer was made by representatives of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association (SZLH) in March.

They offered Czechs in exchange an opportunity to participate in the organisation of the tournament in 2019 or 2020 that Slovakia will seek.

CSLH representatives considered the advantages of staging the championships alone, or in cooperation with the former partner in the Czechoslovak Republic [that split into the Czech and Slovak republics in 1993].

CSHL president Tomas Kral said in decision-making, the association took into consideration the progress made in the preparations for the championship in Prague and Ostrava and the impact of the change on the Moravia-Silesia Region, of which Ostrava is the capital.

The latest time the Czech Republic hosted a world ice hockey tournament was in 2004.