KUALA LUMPUR – The hosts and dates of the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia program for the next season have been set at the IIHF Asian Strategic Planning Group meeting that was held in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with the Southeast Asian Games.

The new Malaysia National Ice Skating Stadium that opened recently in the Empire City mall just outside Kuala Lumpur will host four tournaments in three events while newcomer Philippines will host its first IIHF event.

The 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia with the men’s national teams of Mongolia, Thailand, Singapore, Kuwait and the Philippines will be hosted by the Philippines in the capital of Manila with 3-8 April as proposed tournament dates.

The 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia Division I from 24-30 March will take in Kuala Lumpur with host Malaysia, India, Oman, Macau, Qatar and Indonesia.

The tournament gives Asian countries a chance that do not participate in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program or do so at the lower levels. Asian countries taking place in the World Championship program include Korea, Kazakhstan, Japan, China, DPR Korea, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, the United Arab Emirates and for the first time Kuwait and Turkmenistan.

Malaysia will be busy hosting more events in the upcoming season in two more categories.

Earlier in March they will host the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia, which is projected to be split into a top division and a Division I tournament. The participants will be confirmed later. The proposed dates for the two tournaments are 6-11 March.

As a trial event a 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 Challenge Cup of Asia will be organized in Kuala Lumpur as well 12-17 December 2017 with the United Arab Emirates, host Malaysia, India, Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines as participants.

Click here for the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia overview.