Thaindian News

Moscow, Apr 16 (ANI): Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who has created the image of a “macho man” by taking part in various sporting activities, reportedly took part in a 40-minute training session with two teenage ice hockey teams in Moscow.

Putin, who had earlier become a topic of discussion for riding a horse barechested and swimming across a Siberian river, said he has started to like the sport much more than he earlier used to.

“It is … a very energy-consuming sport, and from my point of view, it is less traumatic than football,” Sky News quoted the 58-year-old Prime Minister, as saying.

Revealing that he was not much interested in ice hockey despite trying it in his youth, Putin said: “My legs went apart at once and I decided this sport was not for me, but now I like it very much.”

The ice hockey training session came after Putin, the judo black belt who could seek a return to the presidency in elections next year, had told leaders of his United Russia party not to get “excited” by the 2012 presidential election, and instead focus on December’s parliamentary polls. (ANI)