International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Ice Sledge Hockey wants interested applicants to give it a "detailed description of their event proposal" by June 16.

The call comes a day after the sport's governing body revealed the qualifying criteria for the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympics, alongside the World Championships schedule in the lead-up to the Winter Games.

The B-Pool contains the second tier of ice sledge hockey nations - currently South Korea, Sweden, Great Britain, Estonia, Slovakia and Poland.

The top two finishers from the 2015 B-Pool event will be promoted to the A-Pool for the 2017 World Championships, while the bottom finisher will be relegated to the new C-Pool event that launches in 2016.

Nagano in Japan hosted the B-Pool tournament in 2013, with the host nation losing to Germany in the gold medal game.

Great Britain are among six teams currently in the B-Pool of ice sledge hockey nations ©AFP/Getty Images



The World Championships B-Pool in 2015 will be the fifth edition of the event and is expected to draw around 100 athletes from six teams who will compete for six days on the ice.

Jessica Korber, IPC Ice Sledge Hockey sport manager, said: "There has been an increased interest in the new IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Paralympic cycle due to a number of new nations developing teams and the heightened awareness brought to our sport by Sochi 2014.

"The World Championships B-Pool will be a great event that will feature a couple of veteran teams from Sochi 2014 and also showcase the work some of the newer nations in our sport have been doing with their programmes over the last several years."

Canada, the United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Norway, Italy, Japan and Germany will compete in the World Championships A-Pool in 2015.

The location of that tournament, the bid process for which opened in October, has yet to be announced.

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