The Italians, the number one seeds and reigning European champions, handed the defeat to sixth seeded Britain in Torino thanks largely to veterans Andrea Chiarotti, Greg Leperdi and Florian Planker.

Planker got the victory underway with a goal after just 2:44, before Gianluigi Rosa scored less than a minute later to give Italy a 2-0 lead in the first period.

The second frame saw Leperdi scoring twice, with Chiarotti and Gianluca Cavaliere also adding to the scoreline to put the hosts 6-0 up.

Planker found the net again in the third period before a goal from Valerio Corvino completed the 8-0 whitewash.

With just three Sochi 2014 places up for grabs, Chiarotti was understandably relieved by the win.

"Winning that first game was very important because we don't know the British team very well and we had a lot of pressure on us, as we were playing at home," he said.

"Now for us, the toughest team to play will be Korea, which we play at the end of the tournament.

"Next for us is Japan, though, and one more victory would be another three points in the standings."

Karl Nicholson, Ian Warner and Darren Brown all had shots on goal for Britain, but these were stopped by Italian keeper Gabriele Araudo, who was on perfect form.

"We've got to get more shots on goal," British team member Tyler Christopher admitted.

"That's pretty much it.

"They were getting the goals and we weren't."

South Korea defeated Japan 1-0 at the IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Qualification
Tournament for Sochi 2014


The second game of the day saw South Korea defeat Japan 1-0 thanks to a lone goal from Jong-Kyung Lee.

"The first game for us was the most important in the tournament," South Korea's captain Min-Su Han explained.

"We went in having the attitude that this was the final game on the final night to charge up each other and have the right mindset, and it worked."

Sweden were also victorious today, scoring 2-1 against defending B pool world champions Germany.

Despite Frank Rennhack opening up the scoring to give Germany an early lead, Marcus Holm and Niklas Ingvarsson used the second period made sure it was Sweden's game with a goal from each of them.

"We played Germany not too long ago as a tune-up for this tournament, so we are very happy to have won this game," Holm said.

"We didn't play well in the first period, but we came out in the second and third and got it done."

Competitive action continues tomorrow when Italy square up against Japan, South Korea face Germany and Sweden take on Britain.

The top three nations from this qualifying tournament will join Canada, the United States, Russia, Czech Republic and Norway - all have already secured their Paralympic places - at Sochi 2014.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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