The heart of the design feature an ice sledge hockey player, surrounded by circles decreasing in size and was created by Swedish designer Nina Kristoffersson.

In addition to claiming the medals, the winners and runners will seal promotion to World Championship Pool A for the 2017 edition, increasing the possibility of them featuring at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Paralympics.

"Östersund 2015 is the biggest major international competition to take place since the success of the sport at the Sochi 2014 Paralmypic Winter Games," said Jessica Korber, IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Sport Manager.

Austria, Britain, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea and the hosts Sweden will fight it out for the gold medal and one of two promotion positions to Pool A, while the bottom side will be relegated to Pool C.

Sweden are set to host World Championship Pool B ©Getty Images



Competition is set to begin on March 16, with the teams participating in a round robin format across with five days of competition due to take place, with the event schedule to end on March 21.

Promotion to Pool A for the 2017 edition of the World Championships would provide a huge boost to the nations' hopes of qualifying for Pyeongchang 2018, with the top five finishers in the Pool gaining berths at the Winter Paralympic Games.

The bottom three teams in Pool A and top three in Pool B will then meet in a qualification tournament to settle the remaining spots at the Games.

Pool A of the 2015 World Ice Sledge Hockey Championships will get underway in Buffalo, New York from April 26 to May 3, with Germany, Russia and Italy set to meet in Group B and will be joined by the hosts and the 2014 Paralympic champions the United States.

Group A will see defending world champions Canada take on the Czech Republic, Japan and Norway, with top qualification places for the semi-finals up for grabs.