Italian star says European teams must focus on developing young ice sledge hockey talent

Italy's Gregory Leperdi hopes to see more young players developed by European teams ©Getty Images

Italy’s Gregory Leperdi has called upon Europe’s ice sledge hockey teams to focus their efforts on developing young talent if they are to challenge the domination of Canada and the United States at World Championship and Paralympic Games.

The last European team to secure gold at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships was Norway who secured the title in 2004, while they were also the last Winter Paralympic gold medallists from the continent after triumphing in the final at Nagano 1998.

Since then, Canada and the US have won every major title available and Leperdi is keen for the tide to turn.

He was part of the Italian team which secured their best-ever finish at the World Championships after they finished fifth in the A-Pool at Buffalo, United States this year, but the 42-year-old believes fresh talent is needed to help boost European nations' chances of success.

“The average age of European teams is pretty high, so we definitely need to try to include more young athletes and freshen up our programmes,” he said.

“It’s good that this next season we won’t have a World Championships because now we can focus more on our development with the younger players who need more experience.

“We now can have two years to work more on development.”

Leperdi has been a member of the Italian team for the past three Winter Paralympics and helped his team to the European title in 2011 when they defeated the Czech Republic in the gold medal match in Sollefteå, Sweden.

The United States have claimed three of the last four Winter Paralympic golds ©Getty Images

He also serves as the athlete liaison on the IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Sport Technical Committee and is aware of the difficulties of bringing through the next generation of players, with European nations lacking established club leagues unlike their North American rivals.

A total of just three teams currently play in the Italian club sledge hockey league but Leperdi hopes that further teams will be added in the future to bring further players into the sport.

Italy are currently preparing to welcome Canada, South Korea and Norway for a new ice sledge hockey tournament which is due to take place between December 7 and 12 in Torino.

The event is set to provide teenagers Christoph Depaoli and Nils Larch with further experience of international level competition, after the pair participated at the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics, where Italy finished sixth.