December madness for Singapore women s floorball team with world c ship and SEA Games

SINGAPORE – A hectic schedule awaits the Singapore women’s floorball team in December, with two major events on the calendar – the Women’s World Floorball Championship and SEA Games – set to overlap at the end of the year.

Singapore were crowned champions of the women’s Asia-Oceania Floorball Confederation (AOFC) qualifiers on March 22 and booked their spot to the world tournament, held in the Czech Republic from Dec 6 to 14. They finished 12th in the 2023 edition in a repeat of their best-ever result.

The 16-team event will clash with the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand, where the Singaporean women will be aiming for a fourth consecutive title. The dates for the floorball competition in Bangkok have not been confirmed.

Singapore women’s coach Tan Yi Ru says that retaining the SEA Games gold remains their priority.

He said: “For the association, the most important thing is, of course, the SEA Games, and the planning has to be a lot better from the coaching side.

“We are focusing on the Games and I think we are on point, but when we meet Thailand, it will still be a tough one.

“Three major injuries (at the last world championship) were unfortunate and we will do our best to minimise that as much as we can.”

Singapore Floorball Association president Ben Ow believes that both tournaments are equally important, adding that it will find a way to mitigate the schedule overlap.

He added: “We are lucky because we have two squads – the Under-19 and seniors to choose from. So now the technical director has to decide and plan how we split the load.

“That is the approach that we are taking right now and not to zero in too early, because it’s also about the peaking cycle, and we