On February 24^th, the Beijing Men's Hockey Team was renamed ‘Beijing Shougang Men's Hockey Team’, marking a defining moment of historic significance in the development history of hockey in Beijing, as well as an important step made by the Shougang Group to popularize all-people winter sports, and promote the competitiveness of winter sports of our country.

The signing ceremony for the title sponsorship Shougang Sports Culture Co., Ltd. was held at the Shougang Sports Building and attended by Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau Director Sun Xuecai and Deputy Director Chen Jie, Beijing Hockey Association Chairman Xin Tieliang and Shougang Group leaders Zhang Gongyan and Liang Zongping, as well as responsible persons from Shougang Sports Culture Co., Ltd. and related units.

As the 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Beijing, the China Sports General Administration and Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau have introduced the ‘13^th Five-Year Plan’ for winter sports and put forward the slogan ‘300 million people on ice and snow’, and Beijing has also issued the ‘1+7’ document for the vigorous development of the ice and snow industry. By means of this title sponsorship, the Shougang Group will join hands with the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau to undertake business operations in an all-round manner, which stands as an important embodiment of assuming social responsibilities by the Shougang Group as a large state-owned enterprise.

With a sports history of 30 years, the Shougang Group currently has three championship teams of strong influence – the Beijing Men’s Basketball Team, Beijing Women’s Basketball Team and Beijing Women’s Table Tennis Team – which proves that the Group is equipped with rich sports club operation experience. Hockey is one of the most popular winter sports events in the world, and professional hockey occupies a decisive position on the grand stage of international professional sports. The title sponsorship of the Beijing Men’s Hockey Team has expanded the scale of the Shougang Group’s sports industry sector. In the future, the Group will build four national-level training venues: the hockey hall, curling venue, speed skating center and figure skating center. The Shougang Group will fully develop its sports industry, and set its sights on the future target and mission of making Beijing the greatest city of sports.

Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau Director Sun Xuecai expressed his thanks to the Shougang Group in his speech for the support it has given the sports industry over the years. He hopes that this title sponsorship signing will mark a new start in continuously improving the overall level of the Beijing Men’s Hockey Team, accelerate the establishment and development of local professional hockey clubs, and make all efforts to create the ‘hockey name card’ of Beijing.

Zhang Gongyan pledged that the Shougang Group will successfully carry out its mission, firmly seize such important historic opportunities as the synergetic development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, join hands with the Winter Sports Center and Beijing Hockey Association, make all-out efforts to run the Team, make hockey a leading event of Beijing, make the Beijing Shougang Men's Hockey Team a shining star, and contribute its strength to building Beijing into an international sports center city.

At the ceremony, responsible persons from the Beijing Municipal Winter Sports Administration Center and Shougang Sports Culture Co., Ltd. signed the power of title sponsor. Representative members of the Beijing Shougang Men's Hockey Team made their official debut, and representative members of the Shougang Men’s Basketball Team and Women’s Table Tennis Team gave gifts to the hockey players and welcomed them to the big Shougang Family.

Officially established on July 22^nd, 2016, the Beijing Men's Hockey Team now has 39 authorized members, of which 31 were born between 1998 and 1999, including many new stars such as Song Andong and Ying Rudi; 3 of the members are coaches and 5 are other staff. The Team will participate in the 14^th National Winter Games in 2020 on behalf of Beijing and also send players to the Chinese Men's Hockey Team to prepare for the Winter Olympics.