Beijing is all set to host the International Ice League Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. The top-class ice hockey event will get underway on April 6 and will run up to April 12 at the city's Shougang Ice Hockey Hall. 

Apart from the hosts, teams from the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Poland, the Netherlands and six other teams will participate in the competition. According to Xu Cheng, deputy secretary general of the China Ice Hockey Association, the international ice hockey tournament will help significantly develop the Winter Olympic sport in China and also play a key role in making the Chinese team a force to reckon with in the run-up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. 

During the world championships, the China Ice Hockey Association and the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee will jointly launch the NTO (national technical officials) training course, comprising of the rules, language, ice technology, off-site technical statistics and other aspects of professional training, in order to build a talent pool for the much-anticipated 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. 

Chen Jie, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, said, "This competition will contribute to the popularization of China's ice hockey projects and is conducive to the accumulation of experience in the race, the training of professional personnel." 

"The International Ice League Women's Ice Hockey World Championships are divided into Grade A and Grade B while each grade is divided into group A and Group B. The Chinese women's ice hockey team is currently ranked 20th in the world and is in the Category A-B group," added Chen. 

"In preparation for the world championships, the team has been training for almost one month. Chinese women's team coach Jacob Bu Click said that the competition is going to be very tough and for the Chinese team, every minute on the ice is very precious," said Chen. 

Wang Mengying, a member of the Chinese women's ice hockey team, will take part in the Women's Ice Hockey World Championships for the eighth time and she said, "Our rivals at the Winter Olympics will be among the top teams in the world, and we need to improve our standard."