Penza, 19 July 2017. PenzaNews. The sports and recreation center with the “Cheremushki” ice field named after Vasily Bochkarev inaugurated in Nizhny Lomov in the Penza region on Wednesday, July 19.

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Before the ceremony, honored guests, including the presidential plenipotentiary envoy in the Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich, the governor Ivan Belozertsev and the deputy director general of LLC Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Nikolai Isakov, laid flowers to the plaque on the wall of the sports and recreation center.

Speaking to the people during the official part, Mikhail Babich stressed that the opening of the ice palace in Nizhny Lomov, which became the seventh in the Penza region, is an outstanding event.

“We are opening the ice palace named after the former governor of the Penza region, who passed away last year, who did a lot for the region’s development, […] Vasily Kuzmich Bochkarev.[…] It is very important that we honor and remember people who contributed to the socio-economic development of the region and its sporting development,” the envoy said.

In turn, Ivan Belozertsev recalled that the new ice palace was built on the initiative of Vasily Bochkarev. He expressed his hope that the new sports center in the area center will “revive the glory of our hockey.”

“I know that here, on Lomov land, great starts will be born, they will become the glory of our sport. This palace will also be used for mass fitness and sports,” the governor noted.

In continuation of the ceremony, Nikolai Isakov handed over the keys to the sports and recreation center to trainees of the hockey department of the youth sports school of the Nizhnelomovky area.

Mikhail Babich and Ivan Belozertsev presented the young hockey players with sports gear vouchers.

Then, the first faceoff took place, and several friendly matches were held.

As players of one the teams, Mikhail Babich and Ivan Belozertsev took the ice.