SZ wins ice hockey gold medal in GD Games

Shenzhen men’s ice hockey team grabbed the gold medal at the 16th Guangdong Provincial Games on Wednesday, winning the provincial sports competition’s first-ever ice hockey gold.

Shenzhen performed an unbeaten run in Group A and won in the finals, beating Guangzhou 11-1 and routing Dongguan 15-0.

Two members of Shenzhen men’s ice hockey team in action against the Dongguan team at the Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star Ice Sports Stadium in Longgang District on Wednesday. Courtesy of the organizing committee of the Guangdong Provincial Games

All men’s and women’s ice hockey matches are being held at the Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star Ice Sports Stadium in Longgang District, from Monday to Friday.

Teams from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhaoqing and Yangjiang are competing in four groups for four gold medals in ice hockey.

Qi Xueting, coach of the Shenzhen women’s ice hockey team, said: “All team members are home-grown young ice hockey enthusiasts. Many of them began their training here zero-based.”

She expected that the games could help the players possess team spirit and get fun playing ice hockey. “We also hope to further promote ice and snow sports in Shenzhen,” she added.

Han Xingyuan, director of the ice hockey competition commission of Guangdong Provincial Games, said that the recent years saw Shenzhen’s great progress in establishing professional ice hockey clubs, providing players for the national team, building training bases, and increasing the population taking part in ice hockey.

“Shenzhen is playing an important role in promoting the development of sports on ice and enhancing the ice-snow sports training and competition system for teenagers,” Han said.

This year, not only ice hockey, but also figure skating made its debut in the provincial games, with all contests taking place at the Kunlun Red Star stadium.

Five teams from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhuhai and Zhanjiang are competing for nine figure skating gold medals.