China to launch ice hockey tournaments for teenagers

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The Chinese Ice Hockey Association has announced the U Ice Hockey Tournament which will be open to teenager in four cities during the first five days of the seven-day celebrations for China's National Day (from Oct. 1 to 7).

According to the Association, this will be the country's first national ice hockey event for U16 players. Nearly 1,600 athletes in 66 teams will compete in five groups including U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8, in the tournament.

A teenager ice hockey game between China and Russia in Tianjin. /VCG Photo

The U16 and U14 games will take place in Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Seven and six teams of respectively U16 and U14 will bring together 31 games.

Competitions of the U12 group will also happen in Heilongjiang, but Qiqihar is where most of the 14 teams will compete in 31 games. The 14 teams of the U10 group will go to Qingdao, the provincial seat of east China's Shandong, and play in a tournament of 51 games.

School ice hockey leagues in Liaoning Province /VCG Photo

As the youngest group, the U8 has 19 teams that will play in Beijing. Considering the players' age and size, 30m x 22.86m small rinks – about half size of the regular rinks, are being used to make the sport safer for the children.

Xu Chengxian from the Association said that the teams have been selected by local sport administrations and will compete under the same conditions and rules as the adults' national tournament. Therefore, the games will be both tough to play and enjoyable to watch.

(Top picture: Qualifications in Tianjin for the U Ice Hockey Tournament /VCG Photo)