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A senior sports official has disclosed that most players in China's national women's ice hockey team, which are burdened with the responsibility of reaching a desirable result at the upcoming world hockey championship, have been temporarily employed without wages for four years, the China Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.
Yu Tiande, head of the ice hockey department with the General Administration of Sport, told the newspaper that the women's team, which placed fourth in the 1998 Nagano Winter Games and seventh in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, consists of the 23 players required to meet minimum standards, 15 of whom are temporary staffers whose living expenses are funded by their families.
He added that even the eight permanent staffers are paid only around 1,000 yuan, or about 138 US dollars, each month.
Over the past few years, Yu Tiande has negotiated the problems with relevant departments countless times, but has yielded few results.
Eclipsed by its peak period in the 1990's, the performance of the women's ice hockey team has been flagging due to limited investment and rapid development among their rivals.
Yu Tiande said that all of the 15 players were from the Harbin Institute of Sports in China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang. Four years ago, they were unemployed following graduation. Due to lack of reserve athletes, the team was forced to rely on them, but was unable to have them formally employed and paid.
Most of the players have now reached the age of 20, and are starting to consider their future careers. Some plan to study in universities. Yu Tiande said it is impossible for the team to downsize, and if some of the 15 temporary athletes are enrolled by universities this July, the ice hockey team will exist in name only.
The team will attend the world hockey championship in three months. Finishing in sixth place or higher in the championship will earn them a direct admission ticket for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. But Yu Tiande said he is uncertain if success in the competition will positively change the athletes' dire fortunes.
He stressed that, because the girls had been devoted to ice hockey for the past few years, they are supposed to be paid as soon as possible. The results of the world hockey championship should not be a factor in when the girls are paid. |
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