Sweden will take on Italy, South Korea, Germany, Japan and Britain at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Ice Sledge Hockey Qualification tournament in Torino next month, with just three berths at next February's Winter Paralympics up for grabs.

"If you ask me, I think Sweden is going to take one of those places along with Italy and South Korea," Ojala said after his side tasted both victory and defeat against their German rivals in Hamburg.

Confidence is high in the newly-revamped Swedish side, and despite their opening 3-2 defeat against the Germans, they ended on a high note with a convincing 4-1 victory in reply.

Ojala believes the team's performances will improve further with time as their new squad members continue to gel into the team.

"The players that went to Germany this time have been training all summer, so we have very good chemistry in the team now," he said.

"It's much better today with the Swedish team.

"We have a few new guys that are coming into the team now but they need to practice a little bit more first."

Frank Rennhack admitted his team has a lot of work to do in the lead up to the
Sochi 2014 Qualification Tournament


German captain Frank Rennhack was less optimistic following his team's performances, and admitted that there is work to be done ahead of the Sochi 2014 qualification matches.

"I think we have seen that we can play good hockey but that we have to work a lot in the next weeks to the Qualification Tournament," he said.

"We had a good first game but the next day we were not able to repeat the same from the day before."

Rennhack avoided giving predictions in the same fashion as Ojala, but he sent a rallying call to his teammates to fight hard for one of the three spots at Sochi. 

"We have to play every game like it's the final in Japan," he said.

"I hope that we are able to do that."

The IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Qualification Tournament takes place on October 20-26.

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