Players compete in the women's ice hockey match between Guangdong and Sichuan at the National Winter Games in Hulun Buir, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on July 22, 2023. Photo: Tang Wenkui

 
China's women's ice hockey team were off to a strong start at the ongoing world championship held in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, raising their hopes of heading to the top division.

China rallied from two goals down to edge past Norway 5-3 in their second World Championship Division I, Group A game. China now sits at second place on the standing, level with the table topper Austria at six points. China opened their campaign with a 1-0 victory over Slovakia.

As the highest-level international ice hockey competition held in China after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the World Championship Division I Group A sees China, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovakia taking to the ice in a single round-robin format. The top two teams will be promoted to the top division and participate in the 2024 World Championship in the US, while teams at the bottom will be relegated to Division I Group B.

Chinese forward Kong Minghui, who bagged a brace in the game against Norway,  currently leads the score board with three goals and one assist. China will face Denmark in their third group game on Wednesday night. 

In the group game of the Beijing 2022 Games, China ran out 3-1 winners against Denmark thanks to two goals within the last minute. 

Peng Chunjiang, an official of the women's national ice hockey team, said earlier that the goal of this worlds is to strive for promotion to the top division of the World Championship, and improve world rankings for the qualifiers of the Milan 2026 Winter Olympic Games. 

After the women's team won ninth place in the Beijing Winter Olympics, they returned to Division I A after winning all the five games in the worlds Division I B in April 2022. Should China finish top two of the Shenzhen competition, the team will be able to return to the top division after 14 years. 

Shenzhen made history in Chinese sports as the first city in South China to host a top-level international ice hockey tournament. Luc Tardif, president of International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), confirmed that IIHF had reached an agreement with Shenzhen to host the games for the next two years.

Global Times