World Floorball Championships: Singapore match best-ever 12th-place finish despite losing to Norway
Narrow losses to higher-ranked teams provide hosts with optimism for the future; Sweden retain title with 6-4 win over Finland
SINGAPORE — Singapore's national women's floorball team matched their best-ever World Floorball Championships (WFC) result, as they finished 12th in the 16-team competition at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
They were beaten 1-13 by Norway in the 11th/12th placing match on Saturday (9 December), but nonetheless finished in the same spot as they did in the 2019 edition. It was also an improvement from their 14th-placed finish in the previous WFC in 2021, and while they finished 10th in 2007, they were last in the 10-team competition in Frederikshavn, Denmark.
The world No.13 hosts began the tournament with two victories at the OCBC Arena, beating France 5-2 and Australia 4-2. However, they narrowly lost 2-3 to world No.9 Germany to finish second in their group.
In the play-off for the quarter-finals, Singapore were no match for world No.6 Slovakia as they lost 11-2. They then missed out on a top-10 finish, losing 3-4 to world No.12 Japan in the ninth/10th placing match on Thursday.
Against Norway, Singapore were overpowered from the start, and while Siti Nurhaliza Khairul Anuar pull a goal back in the second period, the visitors ran rampart in the third period to take the victory.
"I hope the future generation of floorballers will continue to don the flag and bring pride to our country," said veteran forward Amanda Yeap, who is retiring from the national team after the tournament.
"The Singapore Floorball Association has really done a lot of outreach and brought up awareness for the community and floorballers now are starting in primary school and that increases the number of players. I myself started at 17, which is really late stage, so I believe the next generation of floorballers will be able to have a good foundation."
Sweden retain title after 6-4 win over Finland in final
Defending champions Sweden retained their WFC title on Sunday, beating Finland 6-4 in the final at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in the finale of the competition.
The Swedes raced to a 6-0 lead in a dominant first period, but had to fend off a spirited fightback from the Finns in the next two periods. When Finland scored their fourth goal with four minutes left on the clock, it set up a nervy finish in front of a 3,971-strong crowd.
However, the Swedish defence held on tightly to their two-goal lead to stop any hopes of a comeback from Finland, and the final whistle cemented their status as WFC champions for the 11th time.
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