Angelique Kerber is the official ambassador of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship
Cologne/Paris, February 07, 2017 – The 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship (May 5 – 21, 2017 in Cologne and Paris) is receiving extremely top-class support. None other than world-class tennis player Angelique Kerber has taken on the role of official ambassador for the 2017 IIHF World Championships. Franz Reindl, President of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) and the World Cup Organizing Committee, personally presented her with the certificate of appointment. For the souvenir photo, Angelique Kerber swapped the tennis racquet for the ice hockey stick.
Angelique Kerber on her new role: "On the tennis court, I'm usually a lone fighter. That's why I admire how, in team sports, your own performance only really comes into its own when you work together perfectly, and everyone gives their all for the success of the whole team. Ice hockey has always fascinated me because everything happens at a breathtaking pace. That's why I'm very happy to take on the role of ambassador for this sport and a great event like the World Cup in Germany and France. I meet a lot of people in my job and like to take the opportunity to draw attention to the Ice Hockey World Cup in Cologne and Paris. If my tournament schedule allows it, I definitely want to attend World Cup games."
Franz Reindl was enthusiastic about the new World Cup ambassador: “Angelique Kerber has played her way into the hearts of sports fans all over the world with her outstanding tennis. With her dedication to the sport, her irrepressible will to perform, but also with her fairness and respect for her opponents, she is a role model and stands for many values that ice hockey also embodies. In our German national ice hockey team, all Fans from Angelique, at least since she sent a video message to the dressing room at the IIHF World Championship in Russia last year. That motivated the boys extremely and it was already clear that Angelique Kerber would be the ideal ambassador for our home World Championship. When we asked her to do so, she immediately agreed."
In 2016, the most successful year of her career since her professional debut in 2003, 29-year-old Angelique Kerber won the Australian Open, the US Open and an Olympic silver medal for Germany in Rio de Janeiro, reached the finals at Wimbledon and the WTA Masters, finished the year as world number one and was voted Germany's sportswoman of the year. Kerber is currently second in the WTA world rankings. Her immense popularity among sports fans all over the world and far beyond the boundaries of tennis is reflected in her around 830.000 Facebook subscribers, among other things. Almost 280.000 people follow Angelique Kerber on Twitter.
For the 64 games of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Cologne LANXESS arena and the Parisian AccorHotels Arena There are already tickets available, namely:
– online www.iihfworlds2017.com and www.facebook.com/iihfhockey
– By telephone on +49 (0)1806 2017 01 (0,20 €/call incl. VAT from landline networks, max. 0,60 €/call incl. VAT from mobile networks // Monday-Friday 10.00 a.m. – 19.00 p.m and Saturday from 12.00 p.m. to 19.00 p.m.)