Beijing, China, March 13, 2022: The penultimate day of action at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games on Saturday, March 12, saw history being made at the National Indoor Stadium with China winning the bronze medal in the Para ice hockey competition.
China defeated Asian rivals Korea 4-0 to claim their first ice hockey medal at the Paralympics.
Victory was even sweeter as this was the first time that China was taking part in this event – winning its first international medal only five years after starting a Para ice hockey programme.
Shen Yifeng and Wang Zhidong were the architects of the bronze medal campaign, combining superbly to lead the nation to a memorable finish.
“I am very, very excited. It’s honourable for us to have won a medal in these Paralympics,” said Shen. “Despite the fact that we could not change the colour of the medal from bronze to gold it’s still a big achievement. Our efforts made our dream come true.”
Shen was China’s best player in Beijing scoring eight goals and assisting for six more. Emerging star Wang scored five and made seven assists.
“We are a young team. We scored a lot of goals,” said Wang. “The progress is very obvious. We are very confident we will have a greater stage for us to play in the future.”
With China being the only team to field a female player at Beijing 2022, Yu Jing became only the second woman in Para ice hockey history to win a Paralympic medal.
The USA and Canada will play in the gold medal match.