Polish hockey team eyes 2022 ticket

The coach of the Polish women's ice hockey team admits that a tough challenge awaits his team as the puck drops on an Olympic qualification tournament in the Czech Republic this week.

On Thursday, Poland will play its first match of the tourney against the highly fancied Czechs in Chomutov.

The Poles will also face Hungary and Norway, with only one Beijing 2022 ticket up for grabs.

"A tough challenge awaits us as we are fighting for something big," Poland coach Ivan Bednar told local media on Tuesday.

"The Czech Republic is certainly the favorite to win the tournament. They are the highest-ranked team, they have a lot of forwards playing in the best leagues in the world, and they will play on home ice."

The Polish team was only created in 2011. It has never qualified for the Olympics, but has fond memories of playing in the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship Division I Group B tournament in Beijing.

"We finished third in that competition in Beijing. We believed we could beat every team," Bednar said.

"I regret that in 2020 the championship had to be canceled due to the pandemic. However, we are ready for the Olympic tournament. At this level you don't have easy games in the schedule."

The top six teams in the women's world rankings－the United States, Canada, Finland, the Russian Olympic Committee, Switzerland and Japan－have all qualified automatically for the Games, while China has secured a spot as the host.

They will be joined by the winners of each of the three groups in the qualifying tournament, which will take place from Nov 11-14 in the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden.

Xinhua