The Great Britain Sledge Hockey Team set out on Saturday morning for the long journey to Tomakomai in Northern Japan to take part in the IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships, Pool-B.
The team met up at a cold and frosty Manchester Airport for the opening challenge – checking in 13 sets of Sledge Hockey equipment and sledges. Thankfully the staff at Cathay Pacific were unphased by the mountain of equipment and were quick in checking us in.
The first leg of the journey saw the team on an 11 hour flight to Hong Kong, landing early Sunday morning local time. After an hour at the airport it was a 5 hour flight across to Chitose in Japan.
After collecting all of the equipment the team were quickly through border control and customs and on the bus to the ice rink.
The tournament is taking place at the Hakucho Arena, with is a modern 4,000 seater stadium and home to the Oji Eagles of the Asian League.
It was a quick stop at the arena to drop off the sledges and equioment into the GB Changing room and a quick look at the ice, before heading to the hotel. The hotel is just a 10 minute walk from the arena.
After dinner in the hotel most of the team retired to bed to catch up on their sleep and try to reset their body clocks to Japan time which is 9 hours ahead of the UK.
Tomorrow (Monday) will see the teams first training session before a series of meetings and the opening ceremony.
More on that tomorrow !
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