Six tournaments are set for the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia program that will be held in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur and in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The program is aimed at the smaller IIHF members from Asia that do not participate in the World Championship program to allow them to compete in regional events.

Malaysia will host the men’s and U20 events at the Malaysia National Ice Skating Stadium close to Kuala Lumpur that opened one year ago for the Southeast Asian Games as the first full-size rink of the country.

Both the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia and the Division I tournament for men will be held from 2 to 9 March 2019. Defending champion Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia will play in the top division with a single-round robin followed by the final round. Macau, Indonesia and Oman will play the Division I tournament in a double round-robin format. The top-two teams will challenge the teams ranked third and fourth in the top division in a qualification playoff game before the semi-finals and medal games on 8-9 March.

Malaysia will also host the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 Challenge Cup of Asia 3-8 December 2018. Eight teams will play split into two separate round-robin tournaments. Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines will play in the top division; Thailand, Kuwait, Mongolia and Indonesia in the Division I event. For these four teams it will be the first time they compete with an U20 national team.

Ten women’s teams will play at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia from 14 to 19 April 2019 in Abu Dhabi. It will be the first IIHF women’s tournament to be hosted in the United Arab Emirates. The other news is that Kuwait and Mongolia will have a women’s national team in an IIHF competition for the first time in history.

The teams will play a single round robin in two separate divisions. Chinese Taipei, the New Zealand U18 women’s team, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore will play in the top division; host United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, India, Mongolia and Kuwait in the Division I tournament.