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