The junior Russian women's national team have started training in Japan

In Japan, the junior Russian women's national team have started training ahead of the 2019 IIHF W18 World Championship.

On January 1, the players held a training session, before a friendly match against competition hosts Japan is planned for January 3. A day later, our team will then take on Canada.

Russia W18 forward Kristi Shashkina:

- Despite the time difference, I feel fine. I love travelling, so while we're in Japan, I will get to know the local culture more by only eating their food. To celebrate New Year, we all gathered in the hotel lobby for around 15-20 minutes. Personally, this is the first time when I didn't celebrate New Year at home, but this team is like one big family, so I still enjoyed the occasion. We were allowed to sleep in today to recover from the long flight. Today, we trained on the ice, and the friendlies will certainly help us prepare for the World Championship. We're sticking by Japanese time while we're in the country, we need to adapt fully to the time zone. This will happen with time.