Ice hockey’s governing body on Tuesday finally put to rest lingering questions about whether China’s woeful team would be allowed to play in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament, confirming less than two months before the Winter Games’ scheduled start that the team would indeed compete in Beijing.
The International Ice Hockey Federation said in a statement on Tuesday that its leadership, during a two-day meeting in Zurich, “confirmed that it would uphold the decision” from several years ago to include the Chinese team in the Olympic competition. The verdict, after months of skepticism about the team’s viability and questions from the ice hockey federation’s head about the value of having it in the Olympic field, allows China to sidestep a blow to its pride but will have little effect on the chase for medals in Beijing.