Korean women’s ice hockey team avoids relegation

The Korean women’s hockey team has avoided relegation from the third-tier world championship.

Korea defeated Kazakhstan 5-1 late Wednesday for its second straight victory at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship Division I Group B tournament in Beijing. Forward Park Jong-ah scored a hat trick.

Korea improved to six points, good for fourth place in the six-nation competition, and will finish no worse than fifth.

The last-place team from this event each year gets relegated to the Division II Group A for the following year, while the top country earns a promotion to the next level, Division I Group A.

Last year, Korea fell one point shy of that promotion. But while undergoing a transition with a handful of teenagers in the mix, Korea opened this year’s tournament with losses to the Netherlands and China, which killed any hopes of a promotion this time.

Yonhap