Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilitation centre in Stockholm, Sweden,[citation needed] and played under similar rules to standard ice hockey. Players are seated on sleds and use special hockey sticks with metal "teeth" on the tips of their handles to navigate the ice. Playing venues use an ice hockey rink. While sledge hockey is a part of the Winter Paralympics programme, it only includes a category for men which doubles as a mixed-sex division, allowing only a limited number of female athletes to participate. A division devoted exclusively for women does not exist. Via its division World Para Ice Hockey, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) acts as the international sanctioning body for the sport. It has been played in the Winter Paralympics since 1994, and has been one of the most popular events. Since 2016, the IPC has promoted the sport under the name "Para ice hockey" for linguistic reasons, as part of an effort to streamline its sanctioning of the sport outside of the Paralympics. From Wikipedia
