Dear friends, dear sport fans!

I cordially welcome the athletes, the coaches and, course, the spectators to the World Bandy Championship in Moscow.

This wonderful sport discipline, which is also called "Russian hockey", is developing actively and is gaining popularity in many countries.

This year teams from Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Kazakhstan, and Belarus will compete for the title.

We are looking forward a great sport festival, beautiful, tough and hard-line game between the participating teams.

The event will take place in the wonderful indoor "Olympiyski" sport complex and on one of the arenas of "Luzhinki" stadium.

I'm sure that Moscow will duly welcome the participants and the guests of the 2008 World Bandy Championship.

I wish the athletes good luck and sport fortune, and the fans of bandy - joy and bright and unforgettable memories from watching the competition between the world strongest teams.

Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!

On behalf of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sport I am glad to welcome you, the participants, organizers and guests of the XXVIII World Bandy Championship.

During this week the leading national teams will compete for the medals of the Championship which will be held in "Olympiyski" for the second time. I'm sure that numerous fans of bandy, this dynamic and emotional game, will witness a spectacular show, during which the best stick-and-ball masters will display their skills, character and devotion in hard line and fair competition.

I hope that the games played on Moscow ice will be remembered by the participants and guests as bright events of a big sport festival, a celebration of strength and agility, beauty and health.

I wish the participants good luck, beautiful victories, unforgettable impressions and the joy of sport!

Head of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sport, Vyacheslav Fetisov

Dear Muscovites, guests and participants of the competition !

The World Bandy Championship in Moscow is a remarkable event both for our sport discipline and for the capital of Russia. In the recent years bandy has been developing dynamically and the increase of the game popularity and the addition of new federations to FIB are the tokens of it. Nowadays the game has clear Olympic potential and the World Championship in Moscow has to confirm once again that such interesting and spectacular game deserved a place at Olympics.The World Championship in Moscow became possible thanks to the the support of the Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov. The organizers have done everything to ensure that the competition will be a true sport festival and added to the positive image of our sport.

I would also like to thank the national federations of Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Russia, USA, Canada, Hungary, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Estonia and Latvia who actively develop bandy in their countries and without whom it would have been impossible to held such a large scale event. I would like to thank the athletes and the coaches for their devotion to the sport, and the veterans for maintaining the continuity and keeping the traditions of our beautiful game!

The President of the International Bandy Federation, Boris Skrynnik