Valery Voronin has left the post of head coach of the Vitebsk ice hockey club

December 1, Minsk /Sergei Vishnevsky - BELTA/. The resignation of Valery Voronin from the post of head coach of Vitebsk was the second in the Belarusian Extraleague since the start of the current open championship of Belarus in ice hockey, reports BELTA correspondent. The 55-year-old coach announced his resignation of his own free will after the home winning match against Neman Grodno (2-1), which took place on November 27. Before that, the team suffered three consecutive defeats and significantly lagged behind the playoff zone. "Valery Voronin's departure was a surprise for us," said Andrei Mogilnitsky, head of Vitebsk, commenting on the situation to a BELTA correspondent. "Valery Gennadievich explained his resignation by family circumstances. One of the club staff members, Sergei Korolev, has been appointed acting head coach for now, but we expect to decide on a permanent coach by the end of December. It is likely to be a Russian specialist, and one who is well-known to Belarusian fans." Valery Voronin took over Vitebsk at the end of August, a few days before the start of the open championship of Belarus in ice hockey. He replaced the Russian specialist Nikolai Kazakov, who unexpectedly resigned. It is worth recalling that the first resignation in the Extraleague since the start of the current championship was the dismissal of the head coach of Shinnik Bobruisk, Vasily Pankov, under whom the team suffered 10 consecutive defeats. However, with the new coach Yuri Faikov, who took over in mid-November, the winless streak of the Bobruisk team continued and increased to 14 matches. The next matches in the open championship of Belarus Extraleague will take place on December 2: Yunost (Minsk) - Gomel, Khimvolokno (Mogilev) - Sokol (Kiev), Neman (Grodno) - Metallurg (Zhlobin), Metalurgs (Liepaja) - Keramin (Minsk), Vitebsk - Khimik-SKA (Novopolotsk), Brest - Shinnik (Bobruisk), Dinamo-Juniors (Riga) - Shakhtyor (Soligorsk). Standings: 1. Yunost (Minsk) - 70 points (after 30 games; goal difference 113-47) 2. Sokol (Kiev) - 63 (28; 88-52) 3. Shakhtyor (Soligorsk) - 61 (29; 98-59) 4. Gomel - 60 (28; 97-60) 5. Khimvolokno (Mogilev) - 54 (28; 73-64) 6. Keramin (Minsk) - 51 (29; 85-74) 7. Neman (Grodno) - 48 (29; 95-91) 8. Metallurg (Zhlobin) - 47 (29; 78-70) 9. Vitebsk - 35 (30; 59-73) 10. Metalurgs (Liepaja) - 26 (27; 66-88) 11. Khimik-SKA (Novopolotsk) - 25 (30; 66-111) 12. Brest - 24 (29; 58-97) 13. Shinnik (Bobruisk) - 23 (29; 68-110) 14. Dinamo-Juniors (Riga) - 19 (29; 71-119).-0-