The sport of bandy has now appeared in the Chinese capital Beijing through participation in the “Beijing Winter Expo” fair. Beside the fair, the delegates from FIB participated in many meetings with decision makers in the Olympic Games in general and the Olympics in China 2022 in particular. The goal is to be included as additional sport in the future.Â
FIB was represented by President Boris Skrynnik, Secretary General Bo Nyman and Knut Sorensen, FIB Olympic Committee. Knut is the man behind the great investigation of the position of bandy among all winter sports. Various criteria have been used to compare the sports, such as number of performers, audience sizes, etc. Bandy is ranked second next to ice hockey when all criteria are combined. An important ingredient at all meetings conducted in Beijing was therefore to present Knut Sorensen’s survey showing the breadth of bandy in relation to almost all other winter sports. For example, FIB has 27 member nations today. The result was presented to the Organization Committee for Olympics 2022 and the China Olympic Committee among others. Bandy is well worth a place among the sports in the Olympic Games. Our delegation therefore held a number of meetings with the Olympic committees, China’s Political Sports Board and the Organization Committee for the Olympics in 2022. Bandy also showed up with a stand at the Beijing Winter Expo Fair. Among other things, visitors were able to watch bandy on a small flared ice surface with Chinese bandy players.
The delegation also visited the cities of Chengde and Harbin. Women’s World Championship is held in Chengde, China January 11-14 and World Championship, Group B is played in Harbin, China January 28-February 4. The plan for these championships are currently underway.
The visit from the FIB and all meetings with various Chinese decision makers attracted great interest and the Chinese were very impressed by the presentations of bandy that were made. Each meeting was planned and implemented in about the same way. First, a film was shown that gave the audience a first picture of what bandy is, after which Knut Sorensen made a review of his investigation of the position of bandy in relation to other winter sports. The meetings ended with the participants asking questions and a general discussion.
A first recognition has already been achieved by bandy attending the Winter Universiade of Krasnoyarsk in 2019. There are participants aged 18 to 28, enrolled in College or University. Bandy will attend 6 men’s teams and 4 women teams.