Most impressive have been the South Koreans, who continued their unbeaten run and full house of 12 points from four matches, with a 10-2 triumph over winless Britain.

Seung-Hwan Jung, described as the sledge "speed king", scored four goals and Sang-Hyeong Park netted a hat trick.

There were further strikes from Jong-Kyung Lee courtesy of a power play, as well as from Byeong-Seok Cho and Min-Su Han.

But it was forward Young-Sung Kim who was awarded the "player of the game" accolade after four shots on goal in qualifying for his first Paralympic Games.

"I joined the ice sledge hockey team right after Vancouver 2010, so I've been waiting four years for this," Kim said.

"I feel like we are so blessed now because we get to go to Sochi.

"But I'm now more nervous now than before the game, because I'm now going to my first Paralympics and I need to prepare for the biggest competition of my life."

Italy secured the second birth with a hard fought overtime 3-2 victory over Sweden, with Florian Planker excelling with two goals in front of the home crowd after his team had initially trailed 1-0.

Italy's win over Sweden secured their qualification to Sochi 2014 with one game still remaining in Turin



Despite coming off second best however, by virtue of holding on to reach the overtime period the Swedes secured the one point they needed to ensure third place and thus ensure that they continued their fine run of qualifying for every Games in which the sport has been held.

"The overtime loss meant everything to me, as Sochi will be my first Paralympics," said Swedish captain Peter Ojala.

"Everybody on this team has been working so hard for this.

"We're a better prepared team now than we were at the World Championships, especially physically, as we've had an intensive training programme over the last few months."

There was a thrilling finish to the other match when Robert Pabst scored a winner with just seven seconds to go as Germany defeated Japan 3-2.

However despite each battling valiantly neither team are now able to reach the top three and no longer stand any chance of qualifying for Sochi.

The tournament will conclude tomorrow with a final round of matches.

Germany face Britain and Sweden take on Japan before the eagerly anticipated showdown between Italy and South Korea to conclude proceedings.

Nothing can change the top three however, and South Korea, Italy and Sweden will take on the five already qualified teams next March in Canada, Norway, Czech Republic and the United States, as well as the host nation Russia.