# 2023 IIHF World Championship Division III

The 2023 IIHF World Championship Division III were two international ice hockey tournaments run by the International Ice Hockey Federation.
The Group A tournament was held in Cape Town, South Africa from 17 to 23 April and the Group B tournament in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina from 27 February to 5 March 2023.
Chinese Taipei were promoted after winning Group A, with North Korea relegated after withdrawing before the tournament. Kyrgyzstan won the Group B tournament and got promoted, while Malaysia got relegated.

## Group A tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Turkmenistan | Placed 3rd in Division III last edition. |
| Chinese Taipei | Placed 4th in Division III last edition. |
| Luxembourg | Placed 5th in Division III last edition. |
| North Korea | Withdrew last edition and withdrew also this edition. |
| South Africa | Host, placed 1st in Division III B last edition and was promoted. |
| Thailand | Placed 2nd in Division III B last edition and was promoted. |

### Match officials

Four referees and seven linesmen were selected for the tournament.
| Referees | Linesmen |
| Andrea Benvegnu Ryan Cairns Cemal Kaya Yahya Al-Jneibi | Fraser Ohlson Miroslav Lhotský Óscar Pérez Koep Leermakers Edward Howard Jason van Rooyen Helan Al-Ameri |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Chinese Taipei | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 4 | +26 | 12 | Promoted to the 2024 Division II B |
| 2 | Turkmenistan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 16 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 | South Africa (H) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 17 | −1 | 6 | |
| 4 | Thailand | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 21 | −1 | 6 | |
| 5 | Luxembourg | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 28 | −25 | 0 | |
| 6 | North Korea | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Relegated to the 2024 Division III B |
* 1 2 3 Turkmenistan 3 points, 0 GD, 12 GS; South Africa 3 points, 0 GD, 11 GS; Thailand 3 points, 0 GD, 8 GS
* ↑ North Korea withdrew before the tournament.

### Results

All times are local (UTC+2)

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Jan Isaksson | 4 | 9 | 2 | 11 | +4 | 4 | F |
| Lin Hung-ju | 4 | 6 | 5 | 11 | +7 | 0 | F |
| Ken Kindborn | 4 | 1 | 9 | 10 | +1 | 12 | D |
| Yang Chang-hsing | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 | +7 | 0 | F |
| Pavel Barkovskiy | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +1 | 2 | F |
| Shen Yen-lin | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +6 | 4 | D |
| Chen Kuan-ting | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +7 | 2 | F |
| Hideki Nagayama | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +1 | 4 | D |
| Kim Aarola | 4 | 0 | 7 | 7 | +1 | 2 | F |
| Lin Yo-chen | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +1 | 4 | F |
| Shen Yen-chin | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +6 | 2 | F |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
| Player | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Hsiao Po-yu | 168:36 | 3 | 1.07 | 73 | 95.89 | 0 |
| Benjamin Kleineschay | 223:08 | 17 | 4.57 | 141 | 87.94 | 0 |
| Rahman Myradov | 233:06 | 15 | 3.86 | 116 | 87.07 | 0 |
| Ryan Boyd | 230:46 | 17 | 4.42 | 123 | 86.18 | 1 |
| Philippe Lepage | 220:00 | 26 | 7.09 | 156 | 83.33 | 0 |
TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com

### Awards

| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Hsiao Po-yu |
| Defenceman | Ken Kindborn |
| Forward | Jan Isaksson |

## Group B tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Host, placed 3rd in Division III Q last edition. |
| Kyrgyzstan | Placed 1st in Division IV last edition and was promoted. |
| Iran | Placed 2nd in Division IV last edition and was promoted. |
| Singapore | Placed 3rd in Division IV last edition and was promoted. |
| Malaysia | Placed 4th in Division IV last edition and was promoted. |
| Hong Kong | Withdrew last edition. |

### Match officials

Four referees and seven linesmen were selected for the tournament.
| Referees | Linesmen |
| Vitalijus Sevruk Park Jae-hyung Robert Hallin Phillip Ströbel | Huang Jen-hung Tomislav Grozaj Marko Saković Jiří Svoboda David Perduv Lukáš Kacej Alejandro García |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Kyrgyzstan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 5 | +71 | 15 | Promoted to the 2024 Division III A |
| 2 | Bosnia and Herzegovina (H) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 39 | 20 | +19 | 11 | |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 26 | +15 | 9 | |
| 4 | Singapore | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 7 | |
| 5 | Iran | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 19 | 53 | −34 | 3 | |
| 6 | Malaysia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 77 | −71 | 0 | Relegated to the 2024 Division IV |

### Results

All times are local (UTC+1)

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Mamed Seifulov | 5 | 18 | 10 | 28 | +31 | 0 | F |
| Islambek Abdyraev | 5 | 3 | 18 | 21 | +27 | 0 | F |
| Mirza Omer | 5 | 11 | 9 | 20 | +13 | 0 | F |
| Justin Cheng | 5 | 8 | 12 | 20 | +15 | 2 | F |
| Alexander Titov | 5 | 10 | 8 | 18 | +24 | 0 | F |
| Adnan Mlivić | 5 | 6 | 11 | 17 | +9 | 0 | F |
| Ryan Chu | 5 | 10 | 6 | 16 | +11 | 2 | F |
| Ethan Redden | 5 | 8 | 7 | 15 | +5 | 10 | F |
| Joshua Chan | 5 | 9 | 5 | 14 | −1 | 2 | F |
| Ernazar Isamatov | 5 | 4 | 10 | 14 | +30 | 0 | D |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
| Player | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Arslan Maraimbekov | 124:24 | 0 | 0.00 | 13 | 100.00 | 1 |
| Dino Pašović | 278:58 | 19 | 4.09 | 171 | 88.89 | 0 |
| Cheung Ching-ho | 150:42 | 9 | 3.58 | 78 | 88.46 | 0 |
| Emerson Keung | 153:58 | 16 | 6.24 | 104 | 84.62 | 0 |
| Joshua Shao Ern Lee | 230:57 | 24 | 6.24 | 144 | 83.33 | 1 |
TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com

### Awards

| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Dino Pašović |
| Defenceman | Ernazar Isamatov |
| Forward | Justin Cheng |