Poland women's ice hockey team eyes Beijing 2022 ticket

WARSAW - The coach of Poland women's ice hockey team Ivan Bednar has emphasized that "the main goal of his players is to secure a ticket to Beijing".

On Thursday, Poland will play their first match in the Olympic qualification tournament in Chomutov, the Czech Republic. Bednar's team will face hosts Czech Republic, Hungary and Norway. Only the winner will get the Olympic ticket.

"A tough challenge awaits us as we fight for something big. The Czech Republic is certainly the favorite to win the tournament. They are the highest-ranked. They have a lot of forwards playing in the best leagues in the world and they will play at the home ground," Bodnar explained in the interview with local media on Tuesday.

Poland still dreams about their first Olympic performance at the women's hockey tournament. The team was created in 2011.

"At the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship Division I Group B competition in Beijing, we finished third. We believe we could beat every team. I regret that in 2020 the championship had to be canceled due to the pandemic. However, we are ready for the Olympic tournament, at this level you don't have easy games in the schedule," he added.

The United States, Canada, Finland, the Russian Olympic Committee, Switzerland and Japan will play at the Olympic tournament as the top six women's teams in the world ranking, while China secure a spot as the hosts.

The three qualifying winners will join these teams. The tournaments of three groups will be held on November 11-14 in the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden.