ShareKUWAIT: Chairman of the Kuwaiti Winter Games Club Fahid Al-Ajmi announced on Saturday that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has approved the participation of the Kuwaiti national team in the upcoming edition of the World Ice Hockey Championship. Al-Ajmi told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the Kuwaiti team will be in the fourth level, which will include six Asian teams: Iran, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Armenia, which will host the event in April 2025.
He explained that this decision was taken during the IIHF Congress meeting currently being held in Greece. It is a qualitative leap for the participating teams in this classification, as their number has been increased to six teams after it was four in previous editions, which will raise the level of the championship and develop the players of the teams by gaining more experience.
He added that the meeting, which was attended by President of the International Olympic Sports Committee Thomas Bach, resulted in several important decisions, including granting the Bahrain Ice Hockey Club full membership in the federation. Expressing his congratulations to the brothers in Bahrain on this step that will lead to further development of the game. On another note, Al-Ajmi explained that the Kuwait Winter Sports Club is continuing its preparations to participate in the 9th Asian Winter Games scheduled to be held in the Chinese city of Harbin, as it is participating in five events and individual games, namely ice hockey, figure skating, curling, ice skating and speed skating.
He pointed out that a Kuwaiti delegation headed by the club’s board member, Mishaal Al Awadhi, recently participated in an important meeting of the Asian countries participating in the tournament, where the laws of the Olympic Games that will be held in the tournament were clarified and the sports facilities where each game will be held separately and the training sites were inspected.
He explained that the meeting was fruitful, as it confirmed the readiness of the city of Harbin to host this major continental sports event, which is the second continental gathering after the Asian Summer Games (ASIAD). He stated that Kuwait winter sports also had an important participation in the meeting of the International Ski Federation (FIS) currently being held in Switzerland, as the latter agreed to organize the Kuwaiti club for an international championship game next April, adding that “the federation made a promise to grant Kuwait full membership in the federation in its next meeting in 2025.
He stressed the club’s keenness to participate in all sports meetings and tournaments held under the supervision of international, continental and regional sports organizations in all five winter games to support and develop its players to achieve good results in the most important sports events. — KUNA
