MOSCOW, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Ice Hockey World Championship 2007 kicked off in Moscow on Friday. A total of 16 teams will take part in the event slated for April 27 to May 13.

    Those teams have been divided into four groups for the preliminary round, including: Sweden, Switzerland, Latvia and Italy in Group A; the Czech Republic, the United States, Belarus and Austria in Group B; Canada, Slovakia, Germany and Norway in Group C and Finland, Russia, Ukraine and Denmark in Group D.

    This is the first ice hockey world championship hosted by Moscow in two decades. The last such event in the city was in 1986,after the previous ones in 1973 and 1979.