Relegation leaves national team stuck in deep freeze
QIQIHAR, Northeast China: After five defeats in as many games at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Division I tournament, the ice under the Chinese men's hockey team appears to have finally cracked.
With Saturday's relegation to Division Two comes crisis for the sport in China, insiders say.
Lan Li, deputy director of the winter sports center of the State General Administration of Sport, said ice hockey had already fallen out of the public eye.
"The reason behind the poor results is that ice hockey is forgotten in China," he said.
And it is not just the men who are struggling.
China set a goal of winning the women's title in the sixth Winter Asian Games last February but they ended up with third place. The men's team finished fourth behind Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea.
Chinese national team head coach Xiang Shuqing said there are three problems facing the country's ice hockey.
"First, China cannot get sustainable supply of backup players. Second, few teenagers like to be a professional player because of the lack of financial guarantees after retirement. Third, professional players cannot earn enough money to maintain a decent life, so the sport is losing its appeal among youngsters."
Chinese ice hockey enjoyed its peak in the 1980s. Jilin Province, where ice hockey used to be one of the most popular sports, disbanded its provincial team in 1997.
The same thing is true in neighboring Heilongjiang Province. During its heyday there were ten men's and women's ice hockey teams. Now only there is only one women's team and three for men.
"In China, soccer is the No 1 sport. It takes away everything, money and fans, although Chinese soccer has failed to achieve any good results. But no one spares any thought for ice hockey," one reporter said at the tournament.
"China is the most populous country in the world, but there are only 200 professional players in total. How can you count on such a small number of people to achieve good results?" said Xiang.
"We have a good foundation in ice hockey in Poland. We set up tiers in the training program in line with the players' ages, so we can get consistent backup for the national team," Polish coach Rudolf Rohacek said after they defeated Kazakhstan.
Xinhua
(China Daily 04/24/2007 page22)
