Berlin 2021: Search for final two spots in the Paralympic Winter Games begins

The final two spots at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games will be up for grabs from Friday (26 November) to Wednesday (1 December) at the Berlin 2021 Para Ice Hockey Qualification Tournament.

Six teams will take part in the round-robin style tournament, playing five games each: Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden.

Norway faces Japan in the opening game at 11:30AM followed by Sweden vs. Slovakia at 3:00PM. Hosts Germany takes on Italy in the last game of day one at 6:30PM.

The competition will be streamed live on the World Para Ice Hockey website.

Norway, Italy and Slovakia were the last three finishers at the World Championships A-Pool in Ostrava, Czech Republic in June. Germans and Swedes finished within the top three at the World Championships B-Pool in September in Ostersund, Sweden.

China, which automatically qualified for the Beijing 2022 Games as the host nation, decided not to use their allocation slot at the Qualification Tournament, giving Japan the chance to travel to the German capital as the next highest seeded team from the World Championships B-Pool. 

Germany and Slovakia were the only teams that missed out on qualification at the last Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea in 2018. Italy finished fourth and Norway fifth while Sweden beat Japan in the game for the seventh place. 

Slovakia has never qualified for the Games and Germany will be aiming at a return to the Winter Paralympics for the first time since Torino 2006.

"We are very pleased that such a big event is taking place in Germany. The chances are good, we are in great shape. I'm confident that we can grab one of the last two places," said veteran Frank Rennhack, who was part of the team that finished fourth at the Games 15 years ago.

The top two finishers from Berlin 2021 will join the six teams which have already qualified for Beijing 2022: USA, Canada, RPC, South Korea, Czech Republic and China.

Spectators will be allowed at the Eissporthalle PO9 in Berlin-Charlottenburg provided they follow the so-called 2G rule (presenting a vaccination certificate or proof of recovery from COVID-19).

Live results and more information about the Qualification Tournament can be found on the Berlin 2021 microsite.

Pictures, interviews and behind the scenes will be available on World Para Ice Hockey social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.