Jonas Agren sprinting to put the ball in the goal
SINGAPORE – Finland continued to dominate the Championship on Day 3 of the 6th World University Floorball Championship and scored their first goal against Switzerland, two minutes into the game. What followed was a nerve wrecking pace which saw Switzerland fired-up to equalise the score but had to succumb to an eventual defeat of 3 goals, ending the game at 4-7. “It was a tough fight. Switzerland is always a difficult opponent. We played very well today and we are satisfied with our defence today”, Finland’s No.5 Jami Manninen commented. “We intend to give Sweden a tough fight tonight.”
In Arena 2 across the hallway, the Korea men’s team kicked off their first match on Day 3 with an aggressive game plan, pulling ahead with 4 goals against Malaysia. The Malaysians picked up their momentum in the third period to score three consecutive goals, but ran out of time to lose at 4-3.
Sweden triumphed over the defending champion, Czech Republic 6-3 in the Group A men’s match.
Korea was defeated by Singapore 2-8 in front of highly charged spectators. The Singapore team was totally fired up by the home ground support in an almost fully occupied spectator stand; they lived up to the expectations of the crowd and to give off their best.
Sweden started its 3rd game with a four-goal lead by the end of the first period in Day 3. Finland levelled the score in the early part of the second period and their defence was tight. However, Sweden managed to break away with a score of 8-1.
Vojtech Bagin focused in getting the ball back
The astounding cheers spurned both the Czechs and the Japanese in the last match for the day. Japan tried to hold fort against the countless tactical attacks by the Czech team, but was defeated eventually with a score of 12-0.
In the women’s tournament, Finland beat Switzerland 8 to 0. “We have a good chance to win so we just need to play to our game plan”, Finland’s N°19 Kujala Karoliina said. “With our court experience, we were able to anticipate our opponent’s tactics and responded accordingly. But we will not be complacent with our win.”
Host Singapore held off Japan with a 6-2 score. “I think we did our best and created a lot of chances. Our team spirit is also high today, which is good for us”, Singapore’s N°51 Ong Hui Hui explained. “I didn’t score any goal yesterday so it felt good to ‘break the egg’ (zero goals) today against Japan. I saw a few familiar faces and their team captain is a very good player. Our next game is against Sweden and it is going to be extremely tough. It will be good for the younger players in my team to learn from their experience. I personally played against Sweden and it was a very good learning experience.”
RESULTS DAY 3
MEN
Malaysia – Korea: 3-4
Sweden – Czech Republic: 7-3
Switzerland – Finland: 4-7
Russia – China: 45-0
Korea – Singapore: 2-10
Finland – Sweden: 1-8
Czech Republic – Japan: 12-0
WOMEN
Finland – Switzerland: 8-0
Japan – Singapore: 2-6
(Source: WUCOC – Images: VOXSPORTS)
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