In this week’s look at all the latest news in the build-up to the 2022 Olympics and elsewhere:
- What Tokyo’s ban on Olympic spectators means for Beijing
- Record Chinese delegation set for Tokyo, as individual sports announces their teams
- NHL players hold firm with their desire to play in the Olympics
- Team China hockey rosters starting to take shape
- The latest 2022 Olympics boycott talk from around the world
- All the other features and stories of interest
Continue reading Tokyo Chaos Lowers Bar for Beijing 2022 – and That’s a Shame →
- World governing body IIHF threatening to expel China from Olympic ice hockey tournament.
- IIHF prepared to bend eligibility rules for China to avoid global embarrassment.
- New Canadian coach hired with just nine months to go.
- Political infighting hindering recruitment process for players.
In news that has not previously been reported, China Sports Insider can exclusively reveal that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has threatened to kick the Chinese team out of its own Olympic ice hockey tournament on home soil in Beijing if China doesn’t get its act together quickly, according to multiple sources. Furthermore, the situation is so dire that the IIHF has offered to waive its own eligibility requirements to allow China to bolster its own team through foreign-born recruits.
Continue reading Frostbitten: China Facing Olympic Ice Hockey Expulsion →
As part of a recent panel event at the Bookworm Festival in Beijing, I interviewed Zach Yuen, the first player of Chinese descent to be drafted by an NHL team (Winnipeg Jets, 2011) and current defenceman with the China-based Kunlun Red Star in the KHL. Though born and raised in Vancouver, Yuen could now qualify to play for China under IIHF rules and is one of a leading group of ethnically-Chinese foreigners who could represent China at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
Continue reading Interview: Zach Yuen, the face of Chinese ice hockey →
Sports business news and analysis in China and Asia
