MOSCOW, August 6 Hockey referee, inspector of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) Sergei Karabanov died at the age of 58, the FHR website reports. matches of children's teams, then for six years as a linesman served the matches of the USSR championship. In 1992 he worked at the matches of the European Youth Championship, in 1993 — at the World Championship in Germany. A year later, at the World Championships in Italy, he was a linesman at the final match, and later in 1994 he began working as the chief referee. Being the chief referee, he worked at two Euroleague tournaments, three youth and four adult world championships, officiated three final matches of the European Champions Cup. For 19 seasons, he played 682 games at the highest level. In 2000, he was recognized as the best referee of the Russian championship and received the Andrey Starovoitov Golden Whistle prize. After the end of his career, he became an inspector of the FHR.
