Harbin, China, February 14, 2025: Kazakhstan powered their way to the gold medal with a 5-0 victory over Japan in men’s ice hockey final at the Asian Winter Games in Harbin on Friday, February 14.
Hosts China finished top of the overall medal standings with a haul of 32 golds, including 19 in the snow events in Yabuli. This is the highest number ever for the Chinese delegation in snow disciplines at a single Asian Winter Games.
The curtain fell on the seven-day showpiece with two notable performances on the final day. The first came in the men’s curling final where the Philippines scored a sensational 5-3 victory over favourites Korea to grab gold. It was the first-ever medal for the Philippines in the history of the games.
Then in the men’s ice hockey final, Kazakhstan hammered Japan 5-0 to sweep to their third straight gold medal in this event at the AWG following golden glory in 2017 Sapporo and 2011 Almaty.
Forward Kirill Panyukov scored a brace of goals with Roman Starchenko, Dmitriy Breus and Andrey Buyalskiy also getting on the score sheet as Kazakhstan dominated all three periods. Two of the goals came in power play with Japan down a man.
The victory completed an unbeaten run for Kazakhstan in the men’s ice hockey competition, during which they scored a total of 73 goals while conceding only four. The impenetrable defence was the cornerstone behind the successful gold medal campaign.
Since its debut at the 3rd Asian Winter Games, Kazakhstan has established itself as the dominant force in men’s ice hockey in Asia. This gold medal takes their AWG tally to five.
In the bronze medal match, Korea defeated China 5-2.
Japan won the gold medal in women’s ice hockey, capping off the round robin competition with a comprehensive 8-1 victory over China who had to settle for the bronze medal. Kazakhstan took home the silver.
In the overall medal standings, China finished with a total of 85 medals including 32 gold, 27 silver and 26 bronze. Korea was in second place with a total of 45 (16-15-14), Japan third with 37 (10-12-15) and Kazakhstan fourth with 20 overall (4-9-7).
The surprise victory by the men’s curling team allowed the Philippines to finish joint-fifth with Uzbekistan with one gold medal each.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Chinese-Taipei and Thailand also finished in the picture.
