S'pore finish 14th at Women's World Floorball C'ship
A 2-1 defeat by Estonia yesterday saw Singapore finish 14th at the Women's World Floorball Championship (WFC) in Sweden, but coach Lim Jin Quan felt that there were still positives from the campaign.
While Singapore did not match their historic 12th-place finish in 2019 - their last international competition before the pandemic struck - he felt that they put up a better defensive showing this time.
Lim said: "The team's cohesiveness and (their ability to) work together in defence and as a unit was outstanding, so I'm really happy."
He was also pleased that they were able to finally gain some experience at the global level after the Covid-induced disruption and praised debutantes like Ong Ying Rui.
But he acknowledged that world No. 14 Singapore were let down by their finishing, including during yesterday's match against Estonia at the IFU Arena in Uppsala.
It was Singapore's second loss to the 11th-ranked Estonians at this WFC. Their first meeting last Saturday ended with Estonia winning 4-3.
Lim said: "We're trying to work on (converting our chances) - the players are equally frustrated.
"That's something we need to work on and hopefully, we will be ready by 2023 (when Singapore hosts the Women's WFC) to get more goals."
With the women wrapping up their world championship campaign yesterday, Lim will now turn his attention to the men's team, whose competition starts today in Helsinki, Finland.
It will be their first international outing since the 2019 SEA Games, as well as captain Syazni Ramlee's last as he prepares to step down after 13 years in the national side.
The 30-year-old had been contemplating retirement to spend more time with his family and had his mind set on stepping down after last year's Men's World Floorball Championship.
When the pandemic caused the event to be pushed back to 2021, Syazni, a full-time floorball coach, decided to stay on and compete in the Dec 3-11 event.
Syazni hopes to end his floorball career on a high at his fifth WFC, where world No. 16 Singapore are in Group D with Estonia (10th), Canada (11th) and the Philippines (35th).
Singapore finished last out of 16 teams in the previous four editions they competed in. He hopes that they can do better this time.
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