Floorball girls earn spot in world meet, Latest Team Singapore News - The New Paper
Team Singapore

Floorball girls earn spot in world meet

Singapore's national women's floorball team have qualified for the 11th World Floorball Championship (WFC) 2017 in Bratislava, Slovakia from Dec 1-9.

The Republic beat hosts New Zealand 7-1 in a must-win clash at the ASB Sports Centre in Wellington yesterday to take the fourth and final qualification slot on offer for Asia-Oceania.

Singapore finished behind Group B winners Japan and ahead of South Korea and Malaysia. In the other group, Australia topped Group A, ahead of Thailand, New Zealand and China.

The two group winners automatically sealed their spots for the WFC 2017, while the two group runners-up each played the other group's third-placed side, with the winners taking the remaining two spots.

Thailand defeated South Korea 5-4 to take the third slot.

Singapore, as one of 16 qualifiers, will be playing in their eighth WFC. They finished last among 16 teams at the last edition in 2015, with their best performance coming in 2007 when they placed 11th.

The qualifying rounds also doubled as the Asia Pacific Floorball Championship (APAC), which featured eight teams from Asia, Australia and Oceania. Singapore will play Australia while Japan meet Thailand in the semi-finals this morning. The final will be held tomorrow.

Team captain Syafizah Safii said: "I am very happy with the team's performance."

"We were disciplined in executing the game plan set by the coaches."

Said assistant coach Louise Khng: "The team had excellent synergy and camaraderie and they were able to string their passes well. This win is a significant milestone for Singapore floorball."

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