Malaysian floorball squad eyeing gold in SEA Games debut

The sport, which was demonstrated in the last SEA Games in Myanmar, began in Sweden during the 1970s as an alternative to hockey. It received interest from various developed nations such as Finland and Switzerland, and the International Floorball Federation (IFF) was formed in 1986 to recognise the sport.

The sport which is similar to ice hockey is unique in the sense that although there is a line-up of 20 players in a match, only five field players and a goalkeeper are allowed to be on the court at a time.

Each player has three-feet long bright graphite carbon stick which is used to hit a white plastic ball into the opponents' goal.

The sport gained popularity in Malaysia in 2001, at the University of Malaya, and expanded to other institutions of higher learning nationwide before the Malaysia Floorball Association (MFA) was formed in 2013 to promote and develop it further here.

Several state associations including in Selangor, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Sabah are actively involved in the sport's development and the Red Phoenix Floorball Academy has been established to support floorball enthusiasts.

Although they have never quite been in the national spotlight, Malaysia's floorball team has represented the country at the World Championship (2002 and 2004), Asia-Pacific Cup (from 2002 to 2010), University World Championships (2014) and the SEA Cup (2014).

The men's squad is currently ranked 33rd in the world while the women's is 25th, according to the latest statistics from IFF, while in the Southeast Asian region, Malaysia are in second place behind Singapore.

Malaysia is aiming for gold in the SEA Games.

MFA president Rizal Mohd Razman said although it was listed in the B category, the Malaysian men's and women's floorball squads were confident they can contribute with medals at the Games.

"For the Games this time, hosts Singapore are favourites considering they have been involved with floorball for 10 years now, but our quest to hunt for gold is not impossible," he told Bernama.

According to Rizal, the national squad under the tutelage of Swedish coach Filip Dahlgren has listed 40 names, 20 each for the men's and women's squads for upcoming games.

The national squads will begin their campaign on June 11. The men's team will meet Thailand, while the women will face off against the host .

Men: Azmill bin Ahmad Hadzim (GK), Kao Lin Ken (GK), Joerel Jarrow Jr Marcus, Chong Chao Seng, Sjaiful Anuar Adzhar, Ravi Kumar Vijaya Kumar, Low Kien Teck, Mohammad Khalid Abdul Rahim, Indy Benjamin Toh, Zephaniah Chong En Wei, Adrian Koay Hun Yi, Tristan James Desmond, Gary Lee Kah Yoon, Chiam Ter Min, Khor Kuan Yang, Lim Kai Sheng, Yeoh Jun Wooi, Sasitheran Gopalan, Rizal Mohd Razman, Taqiuddin Izzat.