The China National Ice Hockey Team will face the medal competition at the Beijing Olympics. This resolution was made even though many world hockey communities are afraid of such a result.
At the moment, according to the results of the tournament, China is in 12th place in the standings, which is not a very good result, but one should not underestimate their national team. China is in the same group as the United States, Canada, and Germany. China took part in this tournament only because of the existing tradition since 2006. According to this rule, each host has the rule to take part in the tournament.
The International Ice Hockey Federation held a meeting on November 2nd. But even there, their decision did not change. They insist that China continue to compete at the level of other teams for the status of the world leader in hockey.
The IIHF will not even reconsider its own decision on China. The decision made is following international rules, so they do not seek to violate them. They also said they are helping China prepare their team for the Olympics.
Even though now China is showing not the most solid results in hockey, at the next Olympic Games we will be able to detect an enhancement in their play.
Source: ESPN