B-Pool World Championships kicks off in Astana, Kazakhstan

The 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championships B-Pool will kick off on Saturday (6 September), promising high stakes and heroics as six nations – Kazakhstan, Sweden, Italy, Japan, France, and Finland – will battle in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

The tournament will be streamed live on the Paralympics YouTube channel and the World Para Ice Hockey Facebook page. Complete schedule and results will be available here.

The top two finishers of the five-day round-robin tournament will earn coveted promotion spots to the A-Pool and join the bottom three teams from the A-Pool (Slovakia, Norway, Korea) at the Paralympic Winter Games Qualification Tournament later this year in Jessheim, Norway. Their goal: a place at Milano-Cortina 2026. 

Already qualified directly from the A‑Pool Worlds for the Winter Games are USA, Canada, Czechia, China, and Germany. Italy, as host nation, also holds an automatic spot.

Hosted by the Kazakhstan Para Hockey Federation at Tarlan Arena, the bottom finisher from the B-Pool tournament will be released to the C-Pool for next season.

Among the field, Italy, Japan, and Sweden are the only teams with prior A‑Pool or Paralympic experience.

“We are about to see a World Para Ice Hockey Championships B-Pool tournament with a level of competition we have not seen before in this event,” said Michelle Laflamme, World Para Ice Hockey Senior Manager. “There is more parity and rising talent in the sport than ever before about to hit the ice in Astana, and this year’s event will have a lot more at stake given the Milano-Cortina 2026 implications.”

🏒✨ Unforgettable moments from the World Para Ice Hockey Championships B-pool in Skien!

🇳🇴 clinched 🥇 on home ice and got the royal seal of approval 👑

🇩🇪 secured a hard-fought 🥈 and a place on the A-pool

🇸🇪 Sweden beat Great Britain to finish 🥉

and much more 🫶🏻👇🏼🎥 pic.twitter.com/M4LoxlQOjJ

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) June 11, 2024

The teams 

No. 1 Italy will be playing in the B-Pool for the first time after being relegated from the A-Pool, and likely will enter more relaxed than the rest given they are an auto-qualifier for Milano-Cortina 2026. With a veteran group that includes Gianluigi Rosa, Andrea Macri and Sandro Kalegaris, they have all the tools to take gold and may just be the favorites.

No. 2 Japan enters the tournament only two years removed from winning B-Pool gold in Astana, where they swept their competitors by an astounding 31–2 aggregate score. Masaharu Kumagai led all scorers (11 goals, 6 assists), with goalie Wataru Horie posting a blistering 0.45 GAA and 92.86% save rate.

No. 3 Sweden remains strong, consistent contenders with bronze medals in the last three B‑Pool editions. Longtime leaders Peter Ojala and Robin Meng anchor the team, joined by Caroline Persson, fresh off her participation with Team World at the inaugural Women’s World Championships last week.

No. 4 Kazakhstan, the host nation, has a fast-rising programme – silver in C‑Pool 2022, fourth in B‑Pool in both 2023 and 2024 – and aims to break into the podium for the first time behind 26-year-old offensive threat Aidos Toktarbayev.

No. 5 France has seen rapid growth since hosting a “Discovery of Para Ice Hockey” event in 2021 and has been a growing presence in the B-Pool, aiming to take the next step toward Paralympic qualification.

No. 6 Finland will make its third B‑Pool appearance and seek further momentum after emerging from C‑Pool in 2024 with gold.

This will be the 11th edition of the B-Pool Worlds and the fourth time it is held in Asia. Host nation Norway won last year’s edition in Skien, with Germany claiming silver and Sweden taking bronze.

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, is the country’s second-largest city with over one million residents. It is home to several professional ice hockey teams, including Barys Astana, which forms the core of the Kazakh national squad competing at the 2025 IIHF World Championships.