ice Hockey
Austria’s national team is affected by another cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic. The final phase of the Olympic qualification for the 2022 Beijing Games will not take place in August as planned, but has been postponed to August 2021 by one year. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on Wednesday.
06.05.2020 22.40
Online since yesterday, 10:40 pm
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The team of the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation (ÖEHV) is playing for an Olympic ticket in a tournament in Bratislava against hosts Slovakia, Belarus and Poland. For the other two four-man tournaments in Latvia and Norway, August 26-29, 2021 is also the new game date – just a little more than five months before the start of the games in Beijing.
The IIHF has yet to submit this proposal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for approval. Before that, the world association had to cancel the World Cup in Switzerland and the World Cup of Division 1A (B-WM) with Austria in Ljubljana due to the corona virus situation in March. The course for the coming season is to be set on June 10th at a IIHF congress held virtually for the first time.
“Two major goals” in 2021
“Due to the current situation in international sports, it was to be assumed that this qualification tournament could not take place this summer,” said ÖEHV President Gernot Mittendorfer in a message from the Austrian association. “This makes 2021 the important year with two major goals.” Namely promotion to the A-WM and participation in the Olympics.
The shift is acceptable, said team principal Roger Bader. “But we are already looking forward to this tournament, we will be ready and fight for the first place,” said the Swiss. The task at the moment is to put normal ice hockey operations back on track in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports. “A quick return to ice training is particularly important,” said the team leader.
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