The IIHF surprised women's hockey followers, and nations scheduled to participate by cancelling the women's U-18 Division III World Championships only a week before the puck was slated to drop in Thailand.
Only a week before the puck was slated to drop in Bangkok, Thailand for the U-18 women's Division III World Championships, the IIHF has announced that the event has been cancelled.
No reason was immediately given for the cancellation.
The tournament was slated to feature national teams from Thailand, Croatia, and Lithuania, who all participated in the inaugural Division III tournament in 2025, as well as Bulgaria, who was relegated from the Division 2B tournament, and Iran, who was set to make their international women's debut at the U-18 level.
Thailand's women's teams hosted the South East Asian Games in December in Bangkok.
The announcement seemingly comes as a surprise to some of the nations who were set to participate as the Croatian Ice Hockey Federation shared photos of their U-18 national team continuing to prepare for the tournament on January 21.
Similarly, Lithuania only announced their full U-18 women's national team roster on January 20.
Iran's women's team had been training for the better part of a year to participate in their first ever World Championship.
For seven months, we have been in training camps, and during this period we have also played several friendly matches against senior teams to gain more experience and improve our team coordination," Iranian national team member Parmis Dolatabadi said in a translated interview in December. "We have followed a consistent and intensive strength and conditioning program to build the physical fitness and endurance required for demanding international competitions. This participation is not only an opportunity to showcase our abilities, but it can also serve as a major source of motivation for young girls and the future generation of Iranian sport."
While the IIHF website now lists the event as cancelled, none of the five nations scheduled to participate have announced the cancellation on their own nation federation sites.
The tournament is the bottom division in what has now grown to be six levels of World Championship competition at the U-18 women's level. The top division tournament recently wrapped up in Cape Breton, Canada with the United States winning gold, while the Division 2A tournament is currently underway in Istanbul, Turkey.
The now cancelled tournament was set to open January 29, 2026.