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Set for a showdown OQ Gr. L: Spain faces Serbia for top spot The Serbian players celebrate a goal. After two wins they will battle for first place with host Spain on Sunday Spain overcame a spirited Iceland team to make it two wins out of two and set up a winner-takes-all clash against Serbia on Sunday evening. Earlier, Serbia opened up the second day of Olympic Qualification competition with a comfortable win over China. Spain vs. Iceland 5-3 (2-1, 2-1, 1-1) The host nation made it two wins in a row in front of another passionate crowd – but after Friday’s romp against China this was a hard-fought battle against Iceland. Defenceman Jorge Vea acknowledged that he had been in a tough battle of the Division IIA rivals: “We had to fight for everything and it was a really great win for us. Iceland has a good team and they showed that on the ice.” The first period was fast and frantic. Both teams were determined to play on offence and shared 30 shots on goal as they traded blows. Iceland struck first, profiting from Spain’s all-out attack philosophy. Defenceman Birkir Arnason almost coughed up the puck in his own zone but as the Spanish swooped out of position he recovered to launch a counter-attack that ended with Johann Leifsson silencing a raucous home crowd of 850 fans with a low shot past Ander Alcaine. Spain redoubled its attacking efforts with Ignacio Solorzano and Javier Garcia-Arias going close to tying the scores before Pablo Munoz made it 1-1 at 10:27. The play went round the back of the net where Gaston Gonzales popped out a pass for Munoz to fire in his second marker of the competition. Iceland still threatened with Alcaine pulling off a double save to deny Robin Hedstrom and Emil Alengaard before Spain hit the front. Alfonso Garcia brought the crowd to its feet with a slapper from the point that deceived Snorri Sigurbergsson as it flew through traffic. Iceland tied it up early in the second with Spain’s defence slow to react as Falur Gudnason lined up his shot but a turnover in centre ice soon presented the home team with the chance to regain the lead. Alejandro Pedraz was sent one-on-one with Sigurbergsson and won his duel. At the other end Ulfar Andresson also had a golden chance when he was awarded a penalty shot at 14:14 of the second period. However, Alcaine advanced to meet the Icelander and got his body behind the shot. Two minutes later Spain punished that miss and opened up a two-goal lead through Pol Gonzalez. He wrapped up a neat three-man passing move with a shot right under the bar. The home team’s hopes of calmly closing out the game in the final stanza were hampered when Leifsson got his second of the game at 8:02. He produced a clinical finish after great work on the left boards from Ingthor Arnason to put the game back in the balance. Nerves were jangling louder still when Alcaine was forced into a brave stop at the feet of Olafur Bjornsson a few moments later but when the Icelanders ran into penalty trouble the game turned decisively. Ignacio Solorzano thumped a shot over the bar and it bounced back off the boards for Gaston Gonzalez to make it 5-3. For many of Spain’s young players, tomorrow’s showdown is the biggest game of their careers, but Vea insists it will be business as usual despite the occasion. “We’ve not seen much of Serbia’s games here but I’m sure it will be another tough game like tonight,” he said. “We’ll just practise the same as usual and do what we usually do to prepare and go and play our game.” Serbia vs. China 5-1 (4-0, 1-1, 0-0) Serbia wasted little time in taking control of its game against China. Captain Marko Milovanovic opened the scoring 4:21 into the game with a close-range finish off a Nemanja Jankovic pass for his third goal of the competition. Jankovic was among the assists on Serbia’s second, drilled in from the point by defenceman Aleksa Lukovic at 11:25 before Pavel Popravka put a fine wrist shot upstairs from the deep slot as the Chinese defence was parted by Serbia’s passing game. Perhaps the pick of the goals came right on the hooter as the Serbs’ third line combined with a nice tic-tac-toe move to give Nenad Rakovic his first goal in the tournament. China, once again, found it hard to get its offence rolling but might have got on the board late in the first period when Tianyi Guan made an interception that put him clean through on Arsenije Rankovic. However, the defenceman fired straight into the goalie’s pads. But after another slow start China produced some of its best hockey of the competition so far as Benyu Wang’s team held Serbia to 1-1 over the period. Mingxi Yang got the first Chinese goal at 4:06 of the second period with a fine solo run as the team began to show more attacking endeavour. Serbia struck back immediately, Popravka getting his second of the game, but the Chinese offence began to test Rankovic more seriously: nine shots on goal in the session were just two shy of the team’s whole game tally against Spain the previous evening. That pattern continued into the scoreless third period, leaving Serbian captain Milovanovic warning that tomorrow’s showdown with Spain would demand total concentration for the full 60 minutes. “We started the game well but we’re a bit disappointed with the way we played in the second and third period,” he said. “It’s not a good way to finish a game and go forward to the next. If we want to beat Spain we will have to play better.”

Goals galore in Tallinn OQ Gr. K: Estonia v Mexico for next round The Estonian players celebrate one of the 26 goals against Bulgaria Mexico and Estonia continued their winning streaks during the second day of Olympic qualification in Group K. Prolific powerplay was the key as Mexico blanked Israel 5-0 while Estonia steamed ahead to beat Bulgaria 26-0 and falling just short of their all-time scoring record. With a couple of wins each, Mexico and Estonia now go head-to-head in a Sunday night showdown where the winner progress to the next round in February. Mexico vs. Israel 5-0 (2-0, 1-0, 2-0) Penalty calls proved costly for Israel as Mexico got their power play in tune during a solid second consecutive win. Roberto Chabat led the way with three goals in one-man advantage for the Latin Americans while netminder Alfonso de Alba recorded a shutout. Bundling in the first goal of the game on a power play from close range saw Chabat bring the Mexicans in front after 8:43 after fine work by Brian Arroyo from the left side. A well-worked move at 16:58 once again proved to be a productive way for finding the net. Israel's captain Ilya Spektor sat out a tripping call when Fernando Ugarte moved the puck to Arroyo, who once again picked out Chabat in front of the net as Mexico doubled their lead. When Christian Smithers scored Mexico's third at 4:36 of the second period it looked like the game would be well and truly over, but a dogged Israel worked itself more into the game led by Spektor and lively Roey Aharonovich, who both came close for Israel as they were denied by fine goaltending from Mexico's Alfonso de Alba. With Mexico already serving a minor penalty for too many players on the ice, Israel got their golden opportunity with a 5-on-3 after Jorge Perez's interference call for Mexico at 15:03. Israel coach Derek Eisler took a time-out to give his players a breather and requesting more traffic, but Mexico's able netminder Alfonso de Alba kept out any Israeli attempts on goal. Any chance for an Israeli fightback faced an even steeper uphill task when at 10:25 of the third period Chabat scored his third of the afternoon. Maxim Gokhberg in the Israeli net can take a lot of credit for his performance before Mexico's captain Ugarte's solo effort at 16:25 closed the scoring in a 5-0 win, which pleased Mexico head coach Diego de La Garma. "We are content with the victory, but we should have scored way more goals. Their goalie was pretty good, but we managed to get an okay win," he said as his young team is getting ready for the decider against Estonia, which proves to be of another calibre. "It's going to a tough one as Estonia is way better than any of the other teams in this group. Their speed, experience and shooting ability are really good. But if we play a very solid defensive game we might have a chance to be able to compete with them, we'll see," said de La Garma. As for Israel, despite two straight defeats, Derek Eisler, in second season at the helm of the senior national team found signs of promise compared to the opening day loss against Estonia. "Compared to Estonia, Mexico is a little bit more like we are, but they scored a lot more on power play. They scored early and if we scored on ours in the second period, it could have been pretty even, but we just didn't score," said Eisler, whose team is now up against fellow winless Bulgaria in their final day, where Israel will be aiming to redeem themselves from their last meeting at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A in South Africa last spring. "I would like to see us rebound from the 10-5 loss we had against Bulgaria in South Africa and I think that should be good motivation for us going into it," he said. Estonia vs. Bulgaria 26-0 (10-0, 8-0, 8-0) Estonia recorded their second emphatic scoreline in a blowout win, which in the end turned into a battle for the young Estonian team to enter the history books. When Robert Arrak scored his fifth of the night and Estonia's 25 unanswered goal, the scoreboard showed 5:17 to go of the game. To beat a 27-1 win against South Africa from 16 March 1994 was in the minds of many of the Estonian players as they relentlessly surged forward at the end of their second match against Bulgaria. With 102-9 in shots in Estonia's favour, and Robert Rooba leading the scoring with 5+6, closely followed by his line-mate Vassili Titarenko on 5+4, credit must be given to Bulgaria's netminder Nikola Nikolov, who played the final 30:36 of the game and where his 47 saves in the end denied Estonia's record-chasing pack. Estonia came out of the game in full throttle and Robert Rooba missed a clear-cut chance eight seconds straight after face-off. Just like in their opening game last night, Alexandr Kuznetsov set the tone for Estonia, scoring their first goal, this time after 1:16 when Mihkel Vorang picked him out in front of the net. Captain Lauri Lahesalu hit the inside of the post soon after from the blueline, before Rooba sailed through the Bulgarian defence with an unassisted effort at 3:14 for Estonia's second. The first line out was out in full force once again when Estonia found the net for their third goal. Rooba won a face-off at the right before Artjom Gornostajev picked out Titarenko unmarked in the slot. 24 seconds later with the same line still out on the ice, Mikhel Sinikas, the tallest player of the tournament at 199 cm, saw his blueline effort sail in for a 4-0. Two Finnish-based players combined for Estonia's fifth when Silver Kerna picked out Espoo Blues prospect Arrak, who finished high at 8.57. A Michael Mahkwa Auksi blueliner found its way behind Dimitar Dimitrov, who started in Bulgaria's net at 10:43 and before the first frame was over, Arrak had scored a hat-trick and Estonia scored ten unanswered goals. "These guys are great hockey players, so there is not really that much you can do," said Bulgaria's Georgi Iskrenov following their 26-0 loss. "We have a lot of young players, but they don't get a lot of opportunities in Bulgaria, but they have hockey sense and we try to focus on that, to get them experience and not focus too much on what the score will be," he said as Bulgaria aims to bounce back in their final game against Israel. "I don't think it's going to be an easy game at all," said Iskrenov. "Estonia kept them to a lower score than against us, and I hope we are going to get a win out of that one." For the Estonians they now need to stay fully focused on what lies ahead for them when only a win in their final game versus Mexico will be good enough. "It seems like they will be our toughest opponent, but we just need to continue to play like we done in the first two games, not lower our level of play and just keep on going," said netminder Villem-Henrik Koitmaa

Spain’s super start OQ Gr. L: Hosts net ten, SO win for Serbia Nemanja Jankovic netted the shoot-out winner for Serbia to end a tight game against Iceland. Day 1 of Olympic Qualification Group L produced a pulsating battle between Iceland and Serbia before Spain delighted the home crowd with a crushing win over China. Spain – China 10-1 (2-0, 6-1, 2-0) Spain got off to the perfect start, delighting the home crowd with two goals in the space of a minute early in the first period. Head coach Luciano Basile had promised a team full of enthusiasm and that was evident from the start as Spain set a high tempo. China had already killed a penalty before taking the lead on 5:27 when Ignacio Solorzano fired low into the unguarded corner of Zhiwei Liu’s net. And the celebrations had barely stopped when Adrian Ubieto unleashed an absolute thunderbolt from the blue line to bring Spanish fans to their feet once again. Spain was pressing hard, giving China no time to settle into its game, as Alejandro Carbonell acknowledged after the game. “We knew China skates fast but we played a really good game, we got to them even faster and that’s how we got the result,” the forward said. “We did what the coach told us, we played very well and when we got the puck to the net we scored many goals.” China, reflecting the Russian influence on its hockey, tried to play its way into contention with the kind of neat passing that Spanish sports fans might recognise as tiki-taka. Some neat interplay between Xijun Cui and Cheng Zhang sent the latter in on the home net. But goalie Ander Alcaine has a bit of a reputation in these parts and he responded to the danger with a fine sprawling save. By the end of the second period the ‘Ole’s were heard for the first time – and small wonder as Spain stretched its lead to 8-1. Jordy Angles, one of just two players based outside of Spain, scored from close range at the second attempt and within a minute Guillermo Bertan shot from the left-hand boards and captain Pablo Puyuelo put away the rebound. A power play goal in the 29th minute saw Carbonell add to his two assists in the opening stanza with a neat finish high on the backhand to make it 5-0. China got on the board at last a minute later when Tianziang Xia finished off a nice passing move but there was no stopping the home team. Pablo Munoz made it six, prompting China to replace starting goalie Liu with Shengrong Xia. The goals kept flowing: defenseman Alejandro Vea scored the seventh from the point and Solorzano got his second of the night to make it eight as a party atmosphere rolled around the arena. The third period saw Spain continue to press but Xia provided a bit more resistance in goal. Juan Munoz and Patricio Fuentes added two further goals to bring up double figures and crown a powerful performance that gives the team great confidence going into Saturday’s game against Iceland. Iceland 4 Serbia 5 (SO) (2-2, 0-1, 2-1, 0-0, 0-1) Serbia and Iceland got the Spanish crowd warmed up in Valdemoro with a high-scoring game that eventually went to the Balkan nation thanks to Nemanja Jankovic’s shoot-out winner. The teams shared eight goals in regulation, with Iceland coming from behind four times in an absorbing encounter. And Serbia’s experienced forward Pavel Popravka admitted that the team had ridden its luck after facing 52 shots from an opponent that was keen to test goalie Arsenije Rankovic at every opportunity. “It’s always hard to say much about the first game,” Popravka said after the game. “It was interesting to get out and play at last. Maybe we had a bit of luck, but we got the result.” Serbia struck first after just 90 seconds, turning over the puck on its own blue line before Ivan Glavonjic combined with Jankovic to present captain Marko Milovanovic with his first goal of the night. But Iceland hit back on the power play: a wayward shot from Bjorn Sigurdarson had Serbia scrambling behind the net and the puck dropped for Arnthor Bjarnason to tie it up in the eighth minute. The teams traded two more quick-fire goals in the opening frame: Nemanja Vucurevic profited from a positional error in Iceland’s defence, but just 17 seconds later Ulfar Andresson forced home the rebound from Johan Leifsson’s shot. A speculative effort from Serbia was the only marker in the second stanza. Dimitrije Filipovic’s shot seemed comfortable for Snorri Sigurbergsson but somehow squeezed through his pads to make it 3-2. In the third period Iceland again tied the scores, this time with a well-executed penalty shot by Johann Leifsson after a slashing call against Marko Brkusanin. Milovanovic got his second of the night for the Serbs on the power play, but a short-handed strike from Olafur Bjornsson, swatting an airborne puck into the net, took the game into the extras.

Easy workout for Estonia OQ Gr. K : Hosts and Mexico start with wins The Estonian players sing the national anthem after crushing Israel 19-1 in their first Olympic Qualification game. Estonia and Mexico rack up opening day victories at the 2015 Olympic Qualification Preliminary Round Group K held in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. With the first round of games done and dusted at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Estonia's capital, Mexico got into gear as the game wore on vanquishing Bulgaria 8-2, while Estonia set the tone from the outset in their first game to run away with a lopsided 19-1 win against Israel. Jet-lagged after their long haul across the Atlantic, the Mexicans started their first game against Bulgaria slow on pace, but thanks to the attacking prowess of Jorge Perez they got in front after 11:20. Refusing to give in against their higher ranked opponents, the Bulgarians battled back with Georgi Iskrenov equalizing 14 seconds into the second period. But as the game progressed, Mexico got more into their stride and soon the game started to tilt over in the Latin American team's favour. Nikola Nikolov had replaced starting netminder Dimitar Dimitrov half-way through the middle match and the 22-year-old got off to an unlucky start conceding only 13 second after stepping out on the ice, as Carlo Tommasi's effort sneaked in at 30:27 to put the Mexicans back into the lead 2-1. The feisty Bulgarians once fought back to equalize thanks to a Kristian Semkov effort, but as Mexico turned up the heat they got their reward with two late goals at the end of the middle frame. Perez scored his second of the afternoon at 19:26 of the second period and with ten second to go Carlos Gomez gave Mexico a two-goal cushion. Gomez’ scoring spree continued in the final frame as he netted two consecutive power-play goals for a hat-trick to stretch the lead to 6-2 and put the game beyond their Balkan opponents. Perez followed, by netting his third with 5:12 to go before Guillermo Diaz added further gloss to the scoreline with 15 seconds to score the final goal of a 8-2 win for Diego de la Garma's men. While Mexico needed to work hard before the goals finally started to fly in, Estonia had no problem finding the net from the outset in their first game against an inexperienced Israel team. Piling up the pressure, the home crowd of 850 got on their feet for the first time at 1:52 into the game as Alexandr Kuznetsov opened the scoring in what was to be a very long and gruesome evening for Israel. Robert Rooba scored Estonia's unanswered sixth goal with 2:08 to go in the first frame in a game which in the end saw Estonia dominate in emphatic fashion, winning shots on goals with 87-9 and steam ahead to a 19-1 win on the scoreboard.

2nd PRELIMINARY QUALIFICATION ROUND Tournament 2 Valdemoro (ESP) - 06.11.2015 - 08.11.2015 Participating Nations: China Iceland Serbia Spain Round-Robin 4 Nations, Round-Robin Tournament, 1st Nation will Qualify to the 3rd Olympic Preliminary Quailfication Round Iceland 4 - 5 (GWS) Serbia (Score by Period: 2-2, 0-1, 2-1, OT: 0-0, GWS: 0-1) 6th November 2015, h. 16:00 (GMT +1), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, Valdemoro Spain 10 - 1 China (Score by Period: 2-0, 6-1, 2-0) 6th November 2015, h. 19:30 (GMT +1), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, Valdemoro Serbia 5 - 1 China (Score by Period: 4-0, 1-1, 0-0) 7th November 2015, h. 16:00 (GMT +1), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, Valdemoro Spain 5 - 3 Iceland (Score by Period: 2-1, 2-1, 1-1) 7th November 2015, h. 19:30 (GMT +1), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, Valdemoro China 3 - 11 Iceland (Score by Period: 0-7, 1-2, 2-2) 8th November 2015, h. 16:00 (GMT +1), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, Valdemoro Serbia 5 - 3 Spain (Score by Period: 0-2, 2-0, 3-1) 8th November 2015, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, Valdemoro Round-Robin Standing RANK NATION GAME WINS W(OT) L(OT) LOSE SCORE POINTS 1 Serbia 3 2 1 0 0 15:8 8 2 Spain 3 2 0 0 1 18:9 6 3 Iceland 3 1 0 1 1 18:13 4 4 China 3 0 0 0 3 5:26 0 Following Nation Have Qualified to 3rd Preliminary Olympic Qualifying Round Serbia

2nd PRELIMINARY QUALIFICATION ROUND Tournament 1 Tallinn (EST) - 05.11.2015 - 08.11.2015 Participating Nations: Bulgaria Estonia Israel Mexico Round-Robin 4 Nations, Round-Robin Tournament, 1st Nation will Qualify to the 2nd Olympic Preliminary Quailfication Round Mexico 8 - 2 Bulgaria (Score by Period: 1-0, 3-2, 4-0) 5th November 2015, h. 15:00 (GMT +2), Tondiraba Icehall, Tallinn Israel 1 - 19 Estonia (Score by Period: 0-6, 0-5, 1-8) 5th November 2015, h. 19:00 (GMT +2), Tondiraba Icehall, Tallinn Mexico 5 - 0 Israel (Score by Period: 2-0, 1-0, 2-0) 6th November 2015, h. 15:00 (GMT +2), Tondiraba Icehall, Tallinn Estonia 26 - 0 Bulgaria (Score by Period: 10-0, 8-0, 8-0) 6th November 2015, h. 19:00 (GMT +2), Tondiraba Icehall, Tallinn Bulgaria 2 - 5 Israel (Score by Period: 1-0, 0-1, 1-4) 8th November 2015, h. 13:00 (GMT +2), Tondiraba Icehall, Tallinn Estonia 13 - 3 Mexico (Score by Period: 3-1, 3-2, 7-0) 8th November 2015, h. 17:00 (GMT +2), Tondiraba Icehall, Tallinn Round-Robin Standing RANK NATION GAME WINS W(OT) L(OT) LOSE SCORE POINTS 1 Estonia 3 3 0 0 0 58:4 9 2 Mexico 3 2 0 0 1 16:15 6 3 Israel 3 1 0 0 2 6:26 3 4 Bulgaria 3 0 0 0 3 4:39 0 Following Nation Have Qualified to 3rd Preliminary Olympic Qualifying Round Estonia

Bulgaria advances Captain Boyadjiev collects 8 points against Georgia Bulgaria got its expected win against Georgia and gets a chance in the Olympic Qualification. Bulgaria won decisively 9-1 (2-1, 3-0, 4-0) against Georgia in the Olympic Qualification Game played Saturday night in the Winter Palace to earn a spot in the next stage on the road to PyeongChang 2018. Next month from 5 to 8 November, Bulgaria (39th in the IIHF World Ranking) will compete with host Estonia (29), Mexico (32) and Israel (33) in the Olympic Qualification Preliminary Round 1 in Tallinn. At the same time the other group in this round will be staged in Valdemoro with host Spain (31), Serbia (30), Iceland (35) and China (38). Each tournament winner then advances to the second preliminary round in February before the Final Olympic Qualification tournaments will be played next September. Despite missing half of its top players Bulgaria was the clear favourite in the game against Georgia. One-and-a-half years ago the team was in full strength and scored 10 goals in the first period for a 19-1 win. This time around it wasn’t that easy, at least in the beginning, something that the opponents boldly predicted the day before the game. Bulgaria opened the scoring on a great shorthanded breakaway by captain Martin Boyadjiev at 3:37. Vitali Dumbadze showed good puck-handling skills and with individual breakthrough four minutes later he tied the game. The hosts took the lead again at 12:24 after Boyadjiev had redirected a shot by Nikolay Bozhanov from the blue line – 2-1. Until the end of the period Dumbadze had two excellent scoring chances but found the crossbar on the first one and later couldn’t capitalize on a breakaway. “We weren’t surprised by the Georgian team. It’s the same since we beat them in 2014. I don’t think the players underestimated the opponent either. In the beginning the players were nervous, which is normal when you don’t have many practices,” said Bulgaria head coach Kiril Hodulov after the game. The second period started with two quick goals by his team. Boyadjiev again was flying on the ice, went behind the net and passed the puck to the oncoming 18-years-old Yanaki Gatchev, who beat Georgian goalie Andrei Ilienko for the 3-1 goal. The Russian-born netminder was out of position seconds later and Kristian Semkov extended the score to 4-1. This was the home team’s only goal of the game without the contribution of Boyadjiev, who finished with eight points (2+6). In the end Gatchev did a hat trick, Petar Mihov scored two goals and Bogdan Stefanov one. “These two goals in the first two minutes of the second period calmed down the team and then everything went into places. Boyadjiev showed that he is a true captain and without doubt was the best player on the ice today. In the difficult moments he took charge of the play and his teammates. It’s no coincidence that this line made almost every goal. Gatchev keeps growing in presence and confidence on the ice,” Hodulov revealed his positive feelings. His colleague on the opposite bench, the Russian Dmitri Afanasyev, was realistic about the difference in the level of the two teams: “Bulgaria has a good team that competes in the Division II and we are in Division III. I had to use just two lines and with the time these players had difficulties keeping the same level with the hosts. Every period became worse than the previous one. I just came to Georgia last month and we didn’t have time for practices – we had two in Batumi and two in Sofia. So there were some moments in which we were counting too much on individual skills instead of passes. But there are good young players in Georgia and with the project for three new arenas in the country we can only get better.” In the same time the future for the Bulgarian team is quite unclear at the moment. “With this team we don’t have any chances in the next stage. We need our players who are competing abroad,” Hodulov said and hopes that the missing players will become available during the November event in Estonia.

1st PRELIMINARY QUALIFICATION ROUND Sofia (BUL) - 10th October 2015 Qualification Match 2 Nations, 1 Direct Qualification Match, winning Nation will Qualify to the 2nd Preliminary Olympic Qualifying Round Bulgaria 9 - 1 Georgia (Score by Period: 2-1, 3-0, 4-0) 10th October 2015, h. 19:30 (GMT +3), Winter Sports Palace, Sofia Following Nation Have Qualified to 2nd Preliminary Olympic Qualifying Round Bulgaria

IIHF MEN ' S FINAL RANKING 2015 as of 17th May 2015 RANK NATION POINTS 1 Canada 3690 2 Russia 3675 3 Sweden 3630 4 Finland 3575 5 United States 3540 6 Czech Republic 3495 7 Switzerland 3235 8 Slovakia 3160 9 Belarus 3075 10 Latvia 3015 11 Norway 2990 12 France 2930 13 Germany 2920 14 Slovenia 2795 15 Denmark 2775 16 Austria 2745 17 Kazakhstan 2680 18 Italy 2565 19 Hungary 2415 20 Japan 2345 21 Ukraine 2310 22 Poland 2275 23 South Korea 2230 24 Great Britain 2225 25 Netherlands 2065 26 Lithuania 2035 27 Croatia 1930 28 Romania 1895 29 Estonia 1870 30 Serbia 1645 31 Spain 1645 32 Mexico 1400 33 Israel 1375 34 Belgium 1280 35 Iceland 1270 36 Australia 1230 37 New Zealand 1045 38 China 1020 39 Bulgaria 890 40 South Africa 855 41 Turkey 815 42 North Korea 770 43 Luxembourg 700 44 United Arab Emirates 510 45 Georgia 495 46 Hong Kong 455 47 Bosnia and Herzegovina 200 Black Bold - Nations Qualified for Winter Olympic Games 2018 Tournament Silver Bold Italic - Host Nations of Final Olympic Qualifying Round Blue Bold - Nations Qualified for Final Qualifying Round Gold Bold - Nations Qualified for 3rd Qualifying Round Purple Bold - Nations Qualified for 2nd Qualifying Round Green Bold - Nations Qualified for 1st Qualifying Round Red Bold - Nations that decided to not enter the Qualifications

Qualified Nations: Canada Czech Republic Finland Germany Norway Russia Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Sweden Switzerland United States Total Nations: 12 Total Athletes: 300 TEAM ROSTERS TEAM CANADA TEAM CZECH REPUBLIC TEAM FINLAND TEAM GERMANY TEAM NORWAY OLYMPIC ATHLETES FROM RUSSIA TEAM SLOVAKIA TEAM SLOVENIA TEAM SOUTH KOREA TEAM SWEDEN TEAM SWITZERLAND TEAM UNITED STATES

Men's Ice Hockey Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games 2018 Gangneung (KOR) - 14 February 2018 - 25 February 2018 Totallympics Results Thread

Youth Arena Sports: Basketball, Modern Pentathlon (Fencing) Zone DEODORO Location: Deodoro Olympic Park The Youth Arena is an indoor Arena in Deodoro inside the Deodoro Olympic Park Complex. The venue will host some womens Basketball preliminary round matches also the Fencing section of both Modern Pentathlon events. The Arena is about 300 metres of all others Modern Pentathlon venues. The Youth Arena will have 3,000 temporary and 2,000 permanent seats.

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updated as of March 23rd 2016

Women's Final Olympic Qualification Tournament Gouda (NED) - 21.03.2016 - 28.03.2016 Day 2 Results Group A United States 14 - 7 Canada (Score by Period: 5-2, 2-1, 3-2, 4-2) 22nd March 2016, h. 15:20 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Greece 16 - 2 South Africa (Score by Period : 2-0, 5-2, 3-0, 5-0) 22nd March 2016, h. 16:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Japan 6 - 23 Spain (Score by Period : 1-6, 1-4, 2-6, 2-7) 22nd March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Group A Provisional Standing After Day 2 RANK NATION GAME WINS DRAW LOST GF GR GD POINTS 1 United States 2 2 0 0 32 8 +24 4 2 Greece 2 2 0 0 30 13 +17 4 3 Spain 2 1 0 1 34 20 +14 2 4 Canada 2 1 0 1 24 16 +8 2 5 South Africa 2 0 0 2 4 33 -29 0 6 Japan 2 0 0 2 7 41 -34 0 Group B Germany 8 - 5 New Zealand (Score by Period: 3-2, 2-1, 2-1, 1-1) 22nd March 2016, h. 12:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda France 2 - 14 Italy (Score by Period : 1-4, 0-3, 1-4, 0-3) 22nd March 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Netherlands 8 - 8 Russia (Score by Period : 1-3, 3-1, 4-0, 0-4) 22nd March 2016, h. 18:30 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Group B Provisional Standing After Day 2 RANK NATION GAME WINS DRAW LOST GF GR GD POINTS 1 Italy 2 2 0 0 30 5 +25 4 2 Russia 2 1 1 0 23 10 +13 3 3 Netherlands 2 1 1 0 22 13 +9 3 4 Germany 2 1 0 1 11 21 -10 2 5 New Zealand 2 0 0 2 7 23 -16 0 6 France 2 0 0 2 7 28 -21 0

Hi Pablita, Welcome in the contest hope you´ll have great fun

Great thread For Slovakia, it´s almost everyone from our 4 medal winners of London we will have probably only 1 athlete competing in Rio. The biggest failure is ofc the legend of the legends of the canoeing slalom. Michal Martikán who won a medal at each olympic games in C1 since Atlanta 1996 to London 2012 (2 times Gold, 2x silver and 1 bronze) failed this time in our extremely tough internal qualification with Matej Beňuš...the good thing for Michal, is that he apparently recovered from his frustration and already said that he will not end his career and will try to end his incredible career with the Tokyo 2020 gold ..what a athlete also Rio 2016 most likely will miss another canoeing slalom legend the Hochschorner twins 3 times olympic champions in C2 in a row since Sydney to Beijing and bronze medalists from London, are in huge troubles in our internal qualification against the Škantár cousins, in fact only an hardly imaginable miracle can help them to surpass their opponents during the last stage next may at european champs, they need to win and the Škantárs don´t qualify from the heats, which is let tel the true..almost impossible.. and finally also Zuzana Štefečeková double silver medalist from Beijing and London in womens shotgun trap won the quota but will miss the games, because she is pregnant and wait her first child. so our only medalist from London who is expected to compete and is already qualified is our IOC member Danka Barteková bronze medalist from London in womens shotgun skeet.

Rio Olympic Velodrome Sports: Track Cycling Zone: BARRA Location: Barra Olympic Park The Home venue of the Track Cycling at Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games the Rio Olympic Velodrome will be located within the Rio Olympic Park Precinct near the IBC/MPC and within less than ten minutes of the Olympic and Paralympic Village. The Olympic Velodrome’s 250m track is constructed of Siberian pine, banked to an angle of 12 degrees at its shallowest point and 42 degrees at its steepest point. Spectator capacity is 5,800. After the GamesThe venue will be an integral part of the Olympic Training Centre (OTC), one of the important legacies of Rio 2016.

Women's Final Olympic Qualification Tournament Gouda (NED) - 21.03.2016 - 28.03.2016 Day 1 Results Group A Japan 1 - 18 United States (Score by Period: 0-6, 1-5, 0-2, 0-5) 21st March 2016, h. 12:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda South Africa 2 - 17 Canada (Score by Period : 0-3, 1-6, 1-4, 0-4) 21st March 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Spain 11 - 14 Greece (Score by Period : 2-3, 2-4, 3-3, 4-4) 21st March 2016, h. 15:20 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Group A Provisional Standing After Day 1 RANK NATION GAME WINS DRAW LOST GF GR GD POINTS 1 United States 1 1 0 0 18 1 +17 2 2 Canada 1 1 0 0 17 2 +15 2 3 Greece 1 1 0 0 14 11 +3 2 4 Spain 1 0 0 1 11 14 -3 0 5 South Africa 1 0 0 1 2 17 -15 0 6 Japan 1 0 0 1 1 18 -17 0 Group B New Zealand 2 - 15 Russia (Score by Period: 0-3, 1-5, 1-3, 0-4) 21st March 2016, h. 16:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda France 5 - 14 Netherlands (Score by Period : 1-2, 2-4, 1-4, 1-4) 21st March 2016, h. 18:30 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Italy 16 - 3 Germany (Score by Period : 4-0, 5-0, 4-2, 3-1) 21st March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Group B Provisional Standing After Day 1 RANK NATION GAME WINS DRAW LOST GF GR GD POINTS 1 Italy 1 1 0 0 16 3 +13 2 2 Russia 1 1 0 0 15 2 +13 2 3 Netherlands 1 1 0 0 14 5 +9 2 4 France 1 0 0 1 5 14 -9 0 5 Germany 1 0 0 1 3 16 -13 0 6 New Zealand 1 0 0 1 2 15 -13 0

Women's Final Olympic Qualification Tournament Gouda (NED) - 21.03.2016 - 28.03.2016 Group A: Canada Greece Japan South Africa Spain United States Group B: France Germany Italy Netherlands New Zealand Russia Preliminary Round 12 Nations, 2 Groups, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Nations will Qualify to Quarterfinals Group A Japan 1 - 18 United States (Score by Period: 0-6, 1-5, 0-2, 0-5) 21st March 2016, h. 12:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda South Africa 2 - 17 Canada (Score by Period : 0-3, 1-6, 1-4, 0-4) 21st March 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Spain 11 - 14 Greece (Score by Period : 2-3, 2-4, 3-3, 4-4) 21st March 2016, h. 15:20 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda United States 14 - 7 Canada (Score by Period: 5-2, 2-1, 3-2, 4-2) 22nd March 2016, h. 15:20 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Greece 16 - 2 South Africa (Score by Period : 2-0, 5-2, 3-0, 5-0) 22nd March 2016, h. 16:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Japan 6 - 23 Spain (Score by Period : 1-6, 1-4, 2-6, 2-7) 22nd March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Canada 4 - 11 Greece (Score by Period: 0-4, 0-2, 2-1, 2-4) 23rd March 2016, h. 12:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Spain 6 - 8 United States (Score by Period : 2-2, 1-2, 1-2, 2-2) 23rd March 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda South Africa 6 - 15 Japan (Score by Period : 3-4, 1-4, 1-5, 1-2) 23rd March 2016, h. 15:20 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda United States 15 - 7 Greece (Score by Period: 6-2, 4-2, 1-1, 4-2) 24th March 2016, h. 15:20 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Japan 7 - 15 Canada (Score by Period : 2-1, 3-5, 0-5, 2-4) 24th March 2016, h. 16:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Spain 22 - 2 South Africa (Score by Period : 5-0, 6-0, 4-1, 7-1) 24th March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda South Africa 1 - 25 United States (Score by Period: 0-7, 0-6, 0-5, 1-7) 25th March 2016, h. 12:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Canada 6 - 10 Spain (Score by Period : 3-2, 2-1, 0-4, 1-3) 25th March 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Japan 8 - 12 Greece (Score by Period : 2-3, 1-4, 2-3, 3-2) 25th March 2016, h. 15:20 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Group A Standing RANK NATION GAME WINS DRAW LOST GF GR GD POINTS 1 United States 5 5 0 0 80 22 +58 10 2 Greece 5 4 0 1 60 40 +20 8 3 Spain 5 3 0 2 72 36 +36 6 4 Canada 5 2 0 3 49 44 +5 4 5 Japan 5 1 0 4 37 74 -37 2 6 South Africa 5 0 0 5 13 95 -82 0 Group B New Zealand 2 - 15 Russia (Score by Period: 0-3, 1-5, 1-3, 0-4) 21st March 2016, h. 16:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda France 5 - 14 Netherlands (Score by Period : 1-2, 2-4, 1-4, 1-4) 21st March 2016, h. 18:30 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Italy 16 - 3 Germany (Score by Period : 4-0, 5-0, 4-2, 3-1) 21st March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Germany 8 - 5 New Zealand (Score by Period: 3-2, 2-1, 2-1, 1-1) 22nd March 2016, h. 12:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda France 2 - 14 Italy (Score by Period : 1-4, 0-3, 1-4, 0-3) 22nd March 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Netherlands 8 - 8 Russia (Score by Period : 1-3, 3-1, 4-0, 0-4) 22nd March 2016, h. 18:30 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Russia 18 - 4 Germany (Score by Period: 8-1, 2-0, 4-0, 4-3) 23rd March 2016, h. 16:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Italy 8 - 8 Netherlands (Score by Period : 1-3, 3-2, 2-1, 2-2) 23rd March 2016, h. 18:30 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda New Zealand 9 - 11 France (Score by Period : 1-4, 2-4, 4-2, 2-1) 23rd March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda France 2 - 10 Russia (Score by Period: 2-3, 0-0, 0-5, 0-2) 24th March 2016, h. 12:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Italy 12 - 3 New Zealand (Score by Period : 5-0, 4-2, 1-1, 2-0) 24th March 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Netherlands 16 - 3 Germany (Score by Period : 3-0, 5-1, 4-2, 4-0) 24th March 2016, h. 18:30 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Russia 2 - 6 Italy (Score by Period: 0-2, 1-2, 0-2, 1-0) 25th March 2016, h. 16:40 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda New Zealand 6 - 9 Netherlands (Score by Period : 3-3, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3) 25th March 2016, h. 18:30 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda France 9 - 5 Germany (Score by Period : 2-0, 2-1, 1-2, 4-2) 25th March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +1), Groenhovenbad, Gouda Group B Standing RANK NATION GAME WINS DRAW LOST GF GR GD POINTS 1 Italy 5 4 1 0 56 18 +38 9 2 Netherlands 5 3 2 0 55 30 +25 8 3 Russia 5 3 1 1 53 22 +31 7 4 France 5 2 0 3 29 52 -23 4 5 Germany 5 1 0 4 23 64 -41 2 6 New Zealand 5 0 0 5 25 55 -30 0 Qualified Nations for Quarterfinals Canada France Greece Italy Netherlands Russia Spain United States

WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT Qualified Nations: Argentina - Gallay/Klug. Australia - Bawden/Clancy. Australia - Artacho/Laird. Brazil - Talita/Larissa. Brazil - Agatha/Barbara. Canada - Pavan/Bansley. Canada - Broder/Valjas. China - Wang/Yue. Costa Rica - Alfaro/Charles. Czech Republic - Slukova/Hermannova. Egypt - Elghobashy/Nada. Germany - Ludwig/Walkenhorst. Germany - Borger/Buthe. Italy - Menegatti/Orsi Toth. Netherlands - Meppelink/Van Iersel. Netherlands - Van Gestel/Van der Vlist. Poland - Kolosinska/Brzostek. Russia - Birlova/Ukolova. Spain - Liliana/Elsa. Switzerland - Forrer/Verge-Depre. Switzerland - Heidrich/Zumkehr. United States - Walsh/Ross. United States - Fendrick/Sweat. Venezuela - Pazo/Agudo. Total Athletes Qualified 48 Total Nations Qualified 17

MEN'S TOURNAMENT Qualified Nations: Austria - Doppler/Horst. Austria - Huber/Seidl. Brazil - Alison/Bruno Schmidt. Brazil - Evandro/Pedro Solberg. Canada - Schalk/Saxton. Canada - Pedlow/O´Gorman. Chile - Grimalt/Grimalt. Cuba - Diaz/Gonzalez. Germany - Bockermann/Fluggen. Italy - Nicolai/Lupo. Italy - Ranghieri/Carambula. Latvia - Samoilovs/Smedins. Mexico - Virgen/Ontiveros. Netherlands - Brouwer/Meeuwsen. Netherlands - Nummerdoor/Varenhorst. Poland - Losiak/Kantor. Poland - Fijalek/Prudel. Qatar - Jefferson/Cherif. Russia - Semenov/Krasilnikov. Russia - Liamin/Barsouk. Spain - Herrera/Gavira. Tunisia - Naceur/Belhaj. United States - Lucena/Dalhausser. United States - Gibb/Patterson. Total Athletes Qualified 48 Total Nations Qualified 16

Beach Volleyball Qualification for Summer Olympic Games 2016 Qualifiying Timeline EVENT DATE STATUS Host Quota - Completed 2015 World Championships (Various Places, NED) 26.06.2015-05.07.2015 Completed FIVB Final Olympic Ranking 13.06.2016 Completed 2016 Asian and Oceanian Continental Cup (TBD, AUS) 21.06.2016-26.06.2016 Completed 2016 African Continental Cup (Abuja, NGR) 12.04.2016-17.04.2016 Completed 2016 South American Continental Cup (TBD) 21.06.2016-26.06.2016 Completed 2016 North and Central American Continental Cup (TBD) 21.06.2016-26.06.2016 Completed 2016 European Continental Cup (Stavanger, NOR) 21.06.2016-26.06.2016 Completed 2016 World Final Continental Cup (Sochi, RUS) 05.07.2016-10.07.2016 Completed EVENTS 2 (1+1+0) Men's 1 Men's Tournament (24 Teams) Women's 1 Women's Tournament (24 Teams) Mixed 0 QUALIFICATION SYSTEM http://www.fivb.org/2014-02 - Rio 2016 - Qualification System - FINAL - Beach Volleyball - EN.pdf

Aussies win U18 by a goal U18 team earns promotion in wild final day Australia won the tournament on a goal in just over a minute to go in its finale against Mexico A wild set of events made the final day of the 2016 IIHF U18 World Championships Division III Group A one to be remembered. A year ago Australia was relegated from Division II Group B and the history shows that every time this happens, the Kangaroos were right back with promotion next year (2005, 2009, 2011, 2014). They did it again, but in the most dramatic fashion by far. After a big upset win by Bulgaria over Turkey which gave them the chance to advance, the Aussies found themselves in a fight against bottom-ranked Mexico. In a wild third period that saw both teams pull their goalies and a 3-1 Mexico lead evaporate in a four-goal comeback from the Australians, Ellesse Carini scored the game winner with just over a minute left, winning the final game 5-4 and earning promotion for his team back to Division II. It was a promotion that seemed lost to Australia only hours before. Turkey, the surprise of the tournament, overwhelmed Australia 9-6 in a match of undefeated teams two days earlier and was just one point from getting its second straight promotion in this age group. Considering the Turks came into the tournament as the bottom seed, it was a shocking loss for Australia. “We took the game against Turkey too lightly. We obviously underestimated them and our defence let us down in this game. Our number one goalie (Alex Tetreault) is the best one we have in Australia and you’ll never see him having another bad game like that one,” said Australia’s head coach Stephen Laforet. “But we don’t want to take anything from Turkey. I’m impressed the way they competed in the whole tournament. They played against our system, shut us down and that was the key.” In 2015 Turkey won the Division III Group B in Auckland (New Zealand) and went up for the first time since 2011. They have never been in U18 or U20 Division II. The last opponent for the Turkish squad was the host Bulgaria, another chapter in the fierce rivalry between these two junior teams. Bulgaria ended up winning the bronze after Chinese Taipei prevented Israel to win in regulation time in the first game on Sunday. Israel was leading 3-1 late in the third period and was so close to the 3rd place in the tournament, but Chen-Wei Chang tied the score in the 56th minute. The winner was decided in a penalty shot shootout after Dani Boudnikov beated the Chinese Taipei’s goalie Sheng-Chun Huang and completed a hat trick. This way Israel finished the journey in the Winter Palace with 8 points (wins against Mexico 3-1 and Bulgaria 4-3 as well). Bulgaria had six points before the game with Turkey, which for the first time had four wins in an IIHF U18 World Championship (the previous record was two) and needed a regulation tie to secure its debut in Division II. But in front of a passionate crowd of 2,000 in the Winter Palace in Sofia the hosts played their best game of the week in a 1-0 shutout win. The top scorer in the event Ferhat Bakal (4+4 in the game versus Australia, 9+6 overall) missed a couple of scoring chances and was shut down by the Bulgarians. The only goal was scored by Aleksandar Gatsev who snapped the puck after a beautiful pass from behind the net by Tareq Abdi at 34:22. “It was a great game. My concerns were only how we will play in the first 10 minutes. That cost us in the games against Australia and Israel. Overall I’m happy with the way we played in the tournament, despite losing two games that we should not lose, but that’s hockey. Today the kids played solid defense and stuck to the tactical plan”, explained Bulgaria’s head coach Daniel Cuomo. “I said to my players that I’m proud of their achievements and they have to look at the overall picture. Nobody expected us to win so many games. In the last one there were more nerves and it seems that Bulgarians have the way to get under our player’s skin,” said Keith McAdams, the American coach of Turkey. “Bulgaria played a very good game, had a great goaltending and it was entertaining match-up.” The result of the Bulgaria-Turkey game opened up an unexpected chance for Australia to top the group. In the last game of the tournament the Kangaroos had to take three points (regulation win) against the already relegated Mexico, who lost their previous four games with a goal difference of 6:15. But it wasn’t going to be easy, the underdogs’ day continued with Mexico scoring in the 24th second and leading 2-0 and 3-1 in the third period. The Kangaroos kicked back with two goals in 1:23 to tie the game and Thomas Steven tallied another one at 53:26 to make it 4-3. But the real drama started in the last two minutes of the game. A tripping penalty to Evan Connard gave Mexico a power play. After a time-out the goalie Sebastian de la Vega was taken out for an extra attacker and the Aztecas scored just 8 seconds later at 58:29. Now was Australia’s turn to take their goalie out and the magic worked again in no time. The captain Ellesse Carini found the opponent’s net at 58:54 for the final score 5:4. This way Australia finished in the first place, followed by Turkey and Bulgaria. “The dominos had fallen for us. Again it was up for us to go out and do something for the gold medals. Our problem is that in our summer time we don’t play hockey, so I have to bring the players here earlier to have some kind of preparation before the Championships. We are playing against teams that are in their winter time and this is a real disadvantage for us” said Laforet. On Australia’s roster there were six players (Steven Thomas, Lachlan Fahmy, Nicholas Weiland, Jakob Ruck, Andrew Chen and Findlay Wood) and a back-up goalie (James Downie), who are training in hockey academies in Canada and USA. “It’s very hard to scout these kids, but all of them were outstanding in the tournament. I’m Canadian and I went back home to pick them for this event." "I think the level in Division III is improving every year and we can see also in other teams very good players who are developing in North America. Bulgarian captain Veselin Dikov was absolutely amazing and he is somebody to watch in the future. Ferhat Bakal from Turkey showed very good hands, speed. The guys from our team – Ellesse Carini and Liam Manwarring they also stood up”, said Laforet.

Taipei takes Challenge Cup Title defence with 6-1 win against UAE Chinese Taipei captain Yen-Chin Shen accepts the winners’ trophy Chinese Taipei defended its Challenge Cup of Asia title. It again came to a winner-takes-it-all game with the United Arab Emirates, this time the host of the 2016 edition in Abu Dhabi, and Chinese Taipei claimed the trophy with a 6-1 win. The players from the island of Taiwan steamrolled through the tournament. Before the final game on Friday evening they had already beaten Thailand (8-1), Singapore (14-2) and Mongolia (18-2). The United Arab Emirates entered the last day with a clean record as well defeating Thailand (6-1), Singapore (5-2) and Mongolia (5-1). The final game started as a tight clash but although Chinese Taipei outshot the UAE with a narrow margin (29-28), the team from Far East did much better in capitalizing on its chances. To Weng, who led the tournament in scoring with 14 goals and five assists in four games, opened the scoring on a lengthy power play at 8:33 and Ping-En Lu made it 2-0 with 71 seconds left in the opening frame. The Emirati outshot their opponent in the middle frame but late in the period captain Yen-Chin Shen and Yen-Chih Chen scored for Chinese Taipei to make it a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes. Early in the third period Lin and Weng both scored their second marker of the night and UAE captain Juma Al Dhaheri scored his team’s only goal on a power play for the final score of 6-1. Yu-Cheng Liao had a strong night in Chinese Taipei’s net with 27 saves on 28 shots. For Chinese Taipei it’s the sixth Challenge Cup of Asia win after 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The United Arab Emirates won in 2009 and 2012, Hong Kong in 2011. Mongolia finished the event in third place after an 11-0 blanking of Singapore and a 7-3 win for third place on the final day against Thailand. Thailand was fourth getting its only victory against winless Singapore. On 9th April the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia Division I will be played in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to determine the team to be promoted. Beside the host country also Macau, Malaysia, India and for the first time Qatar participate in the event. Prior to that the Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia Division I will start in Chinese Taipei on Tuesday with the hosts, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India. For the women’s national teams from Malaysia and India it will be the first tournament ever.