Shenzhen is a city without real snow. Nevertheless, the city's presence in winter sporting events cannot be underestimated.
Players of the Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star Club will debut at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Feb. 3 as the Chinese national women's ice hockey team, one day before the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games officially opens.
The team will play against the Czech Republic in Group B at the Wukesong Sports Center in the first game of the 10-team women's tournament, which will run through Feb. 17.
In the group stage, they are scheduled to play against Denmark on Feb. 4, Japan on Feb. 6 and Switzerland on Feb. 7.
The Chinese are currently No. 20 in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s world rankings.
They receive an automatic entry into the Olympics as the host country.
Kunlun Red Star, formed in Longgang District in 2016, is China’s first professional hockey club, which is now headed by Brian Idalski, former head coach of the University of North Dakota women's hockey team in the U.S.
The club boasts the Chinese national women's hockey team training base, which has a 60-meter-long and 26-meter-wide Olympic-standard hockey rink, the only one of its kind in South China.
Meanwhile, six Shenzhen citizens, including a national luge athlete, an athletic assistant of the Chinese men's hockey team and two technical officials for the Beijing Winter Olympics, will participant in the Games, Shenzhen Evening News reported.
Zhou Song, manager of Kunlun Red Star, will provide administrative and logistics support to the Chinese men's hockey team.
Peng Junyue, born in 2000, is a rising star in the Chinese luge community. The former basketball player was selected by China's National Winter Sports Administrative Center and started training on ice.
In 2019, he signed contracts with Shenzhen sports schools, officially representing the city in competitions. At the 2021-22 Luge World Cup, the Chinese host squad Peng is in made a thrilling debut and bagged two event tickets to the men's double sled and team relay in the Olympics.
"I will show all techniques I had practiced for years and face the Games with a light heart," Peng said.
Pu Jun got involved in ice hockey because of her son. In the coming Games, she will be responsible for coordinating women's hockey teams from around the world and the departments of the stadium.
Pu said: "The position is like an important control center. To deal with emergencies, the job requires us to communicate with coaches and players to learn their backgrounds and needs, as well as provide excellent services."
Luo Chengtong and Lu Xiaona were named as technical officials for ice hockey at the Olympics. The technical officials, comprised of volunteers with extensive sports knowledge and previous work experience in the field, is a vital group that provides and maintains fair and equitable playing conditions.
Luo, a hockey company employee, will be responsible for data calculations during competitions. Lu, who is an avid fan of the sport, will record the games’ shooting results. Both expressed their commitment to have the sport played to the highest level.
Zhai Xiaomeng, a former ski jumper, also made it to the list of technical officials in the Games.
He came in fourth place in the men's team event at the Eighth National Winter Games of China and served as the coach and manager of Shenzhen Guangming Grass Skiing after retirement. Two years ago, he went back to the ski jumping venue coaching the national women's team.
For the upcoming Games, Zhai's major work is to make the jumping ramp’s ice layer and clean up its tracks. "The work of maintaining ski jumping event tracks is difficult. I am required to prepare the tracks three days before athletes' training and to prevent the ice layer from melting with tools," Zhai said.
The Games will run for 19 days starting Feb. 4, with nearly 3,000 athletes competing in 109 medal events across 15 disciplines in seven winter sports.
