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Subject: IIHF Cancels Women's Ice Hockey World Championships
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The following news release was issued today by the International Ice Hockey 
Federation:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2003

2003 IIHF Women's World Championship In Beijing Cancelled

ZURICH, Switzerland -- The International Ice Hockey Federation today decided 
to cancel the 2003 IIHF Women's World Championship, which was to be held in 
Beijing, China on April 3-9, due to the increased health risks caused by the 
SARS pneumonia.

The decision was taken after further consultation with the IIHF's Chief 
Medical Officer Mark Aubry and also other medical experts close to the IIHF.

"Earlier last week we were concerned about the situation, but our daily 
monitoring of the updates delivered by the World Health Organization 
indicated clearly that the Beijing area was not affected," says IIHF 
President René Fasel.

"The situation took a drastic turn to the worse in the last few days and 
again after consulting our medical experts, we decided that cancelling or 
postponing the championship was the only responsible thing," says Fasel. 
"Now, the present situation gives us reasons to be extraordinarily 
concerned."

"The health of the athletes must always be our prime concern and with the new 
reports regarding the spread of the pneumonia and the strong medical advice 
we received, this was really the only decision we could take. We were no 
longer in a position to guarantee the health of the athletes and team staff."

Teams from Switzerland, Sweden, Russia and Germany had traveled to Beijing 
already last week while Canada, USA and Finland were about to go there at the 
beginning of this coming week. The eighth participating team was host China. 
The four teams, which are in Beijing, were advised to return home as soon as 
possible.    

The IIHF will decide shortly whether to hold the 2003 IIHF World Women 
Championship at a later date.

For further information:
Szymon Szemberg 
IIHF Information & Media Relations Manager

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