Nagano is a city of nearly 400,000 people and hosted the first-ever Paralympic Games in Asia in 1998.

About the event

Nagano, Japan, which hosted the 1998 Paralympic Winter Games, will now stage the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships from 10-16 March.

The competition will be organised by the Japan Ice Sledge Hockey Association (JISHA), with six teams playing on the ice at the Wakasato Tamokuteki Sport Arena, commonly known as “Big Hat.”

The “Big Hat” venue has a seating capacity of 5,000, offers three different spectator stands and is situated less than three hours northwest of the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Poland and Slovakia will take part in the Championships.

It will be the fourth edition of the B Pool Championships, and the top three finishers from the event will move on to the Paralympic Winter Games Qualification Tournament, which will take place in late 2013 and will be the final chance for teams to qualify for Sochi 2014.

Both Japan and Estonia are coming down from the A Pool after finishing in seventh and eighth place, respectively, at the A Pool World Championships last season. Germany won bronze at last year’s B Pool World Championships, and Slovakia will be taking part in their first World Championships of any kind.

About Nagano

Nagano is a city of nearly 400,000 people and hosted the first-ever Paralympic Games in Asia in 1998. The Nagano Games demonstrated a rising media and public interest in Paralympic winter sports, as 151,375 spectators viewed the Games, which were covered by 1,468 journalists.

The city is visited by approximately one million tourists per year. It is centred around the 1,400-year-old Zenkoji Temple – a national treasure in Japan – and is surrounded by lush green mountains.