# 2018 IIHF World Championship Division III

The 2018 IIHF World Championship Division III was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was held in Cape Town, South Africa and the qualification tournament in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina after the original hosts, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, withdrew their application.
Georgia won the tournament and were promoted to Division II.
Kuwait and Turkmenistan made their debut in the World Championships, with both playing in the qualification tournament. Turkmenistan won their first ever game in the World Championships, defeating the United Arab Emirates and later went on to win the qualification and be promoted to next year's Division III.

## Division III
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Turkey | Placed 6th in Division II B last year and were relegated. |
| Bulgaria | Placed 2nd in Division III last year. |
| Georgia | Placed 3rd in Division III last year. |
| Hong Kong | Placed 4th in Division III last year. |
| South Africa | Host, placed 5th in Division III last year. |
| Chinese Taipei | Placed 6th in Division III last year. |

### Match officials

4 referees and 7 linesmen were selected for the tournament.

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Georgia (P) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 12 | +23 | 12 | Promoted to 2019 Division II B |
| 2 | Bulgaria | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 10 | +18 | 11 | |
| 3 | Turkey | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 14 | +8 | 10 | |
| 4 | Chinese Taipei | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 25 | −9 | 6 | |
| 5 | South Africa (H) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 18 | −5 | 6 | |
| 6 | Hong Kong (R) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 38 | −35 | 0 | Relegation to 2019 Division III qualification |
* 1 2 Chinese Taipei 5–2 South Africa

### Results

All times are local (UTC+2).

### Awards and statistics
#### Awards

* Best players selected by the directorate:
** Best Goaltender: Charl Pretorius
** Best Defenceman: Martin Boyadjiev
** Best Forward: Aleksandr Zhuzhunashvili
Source: IIHF.com

#### Scoring leaders

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Aleksandr Zhuzhunashvili | 5 | 10 | 9 | 19 | +15 | 2 | F |
| Oliver Obolgogiani | 5 | 8 | 6 | 14 | +16 | 6 | F |
| Alexander Vasilchenko | 5 | 5 | 7 | 12 | +7 | 8 | F |
| Ivan Hodulov | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | +2 | 4 | F |
| Shen Yen-chin | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | –3 | 0 | F |
| Martin Boyadjiev | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +8 | 2 | F |
| Daniel Dilkov | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +7 | 0 | F |
| Ferhat Bakal | 5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | +3 | 2 | F |
| Artem Kozyulin | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | +9 | 25 | F |
| Artem Kurbatov | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | +16 | 10 | 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 |
| Muhammed Karagül | 242:52 | 13 | 3.21 | 161 | 91.93 | 0 |
| Charl Pretorius | 204:11 | 9 | 2.64 | 111 | 91.89 | 1 |
| Andrei Ilienko | 283:39 | 10 | 2.12 | 115 | 91.30 | 0 |
| Dimitar Dimitrov | 242:28 | 10 | 2.47 | 107 | 90.65 | 1 |
| Liao Yu-cheng | 265:54 | 18 | 4.06 | 137 | 86.86 | 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

## Division III qualification tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Host, withdrew from tournament last year. Last played in 2016. |
| United Arab Emirates | Placed 7th in Division III last year and were relegated. |
| Kuwait | First time participating in tournament. |
| Turkmenistan | First time participating in tournament. |

### Match officials

3 referees and 4 linesmen were selected for the tournament.

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Turkmenistan (P) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 5 | +36 | 9 | Promoted to 2019 Division III |
| 2 | Bosnia and Herzegovina (H) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 15 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 3 | |
| 4 | Kuwait | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 36 | −31 | 0 | |

### Results

All times are local (UTC+1).

### Awards and statistics
#### Awards

* Best players selected by the directorate:
** Best Goaltender: Edis Pribišić
** Best Defenceman: Dmitriy Savin
** Best Forward: Ahmet Gurbanov
Source: IIHF.com

### Scoring leaders

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Ahmet Gurbanov | 3 | 6 | 6 | 12 | +10 | 9 | F |
| Pavel Barkovskiy | 3 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +9 | 2 | F |
| Mirza Omer | 3 | 5 | 5 | 10 | +7 | 20 | F |
| Aleksandr Vahovskiy | 3 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +10 | 0 | F |
| Dovlet Soyunov | 3 | 6 | 3 | 9 | +10 | 2 | F |
| Arslan Geldimyradov | 3 | 5 | 4 | 9 | +9 | 2 | F |
| Amangeldi Aganiyazov | 3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | +10 | 4 | D |
| Dino Čordalija | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | +6 | 6 | F |
| Ishan Veleyev | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | +6 | 0 | F |
| Dmitriy Savin | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +8 | 4 | 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 |
| Keremli Charyyev | 140:00 | 3 | 1.29 | 29 | 89.66 | 1 |
| Khaled Al-Suwaidi | 180:00 | 12 | 4.00 | 107 | 88.79 | 0 |
| Edis Pribišić | 169:19 | 12 | 4.25 | 97 | 87.63 | 0 |
| Jasem Al-Sarraf | 154:43 | 25 | 9.70 | 98 | 74.49 | 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