Source: Xinhua

02-18-2009 16:30

Special Report:   Harbin 24th Winter Universiade

 HARBIN, Northeast China, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- China beat Slovak 5-3 here on Wednesday to enjoy their first victory in the women's ice hockey competition in the 24th Winter Universiade, to be officially opened this evening.

Players of China and Slovakia exchange team flags before their women ice hockey preliminary, the first match at the 24th World Winter Universiade in the Harbin Ice Hockey Gym of Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 18, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhou Que)
Players of China and Slovakia exchange team flags before their 
women ice hockey preliminary, the first match at the 24th World 
Winter Universiade in the Harbin Ice Hockey Gym of Harbin, 
capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 18, 2009. 
(Xinhua/Zhou Que)

China's victory was also marked as the first win in the Winter Universiade women's ice hockey history as the event became the compulsory program since the Harbin Winter Universiad.

    "We didn't have a dream start and made some mistakes in the first period, but players did fight well later and that's why we won," said Paul Strople, head coach of the Chinese team.

    China opened the scoring at 13:25 through veteran Sun Rui to take the lead. Though Slovak wakened their momentum in the second period to level the score at 3-3, Sun Rui and her teammate Jin Fengling found home in 48:14 and 52:42 respectively on power play opportunities to seal the victory for China.