By REDintern Siti Rohaniza Muhammad. Photos by Matthew Lau and Clara Yuan/Red Sports

World University Floorball Championship Floorball MENS Singapore vs Malaysia

Sean Huang (SIN #17) takes a shot. (Photo 1 © Matthew Lau/Red Sports)

OCBC Arena, Wednesday, June 18, 2014 — Hosts Singapore defeated Malaysia 18–0 for their opening win at the World University Floorball Championship (WUFC).

Singapore is the first non-European city to host the WUFC after it was last held in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2012. This is the second major floorball event that Singapore has hosted, the first being the 2005 edition of the World Floorball Championship.

For the Singaporean side, the bulk of the players comprises of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) undergraduates, with the rest from National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Edith Cowan University (SMF Institute of Higher Learning). Leading the team is Captain Glendon Phua (SIN #20) and Head Coach, Saravanan Rajamanikam.

With the win, Singapore share the top spot in Group B with Russia and Korea after all three teams won their opening matches. Malaysia, on the hand, suffered their second defeat after they lost 2–21 to Russia in their opening match. Korea trounced China 23–0.

Glendon (SIN #20) paved the way by scoring the first and only goal halfway through the first period. Assisted by Brandon Cheong (SIN #10), Glendon calmly put the ball past the Malaysian goalkeeper.

Despite Singapore dominating possession during the first period, most of their attempts at goal were often wide and off target. Malaysia’s keeper, Azmill Ahmad Hadzim (MAS #71), also made plenty of outstanding saves to deny the Singapore side more goals.

Singapore thought they had gone 2–0 up but Jatin Nair’s (SIN #16) goal was disallowed as the ball went in after the buzzer, much to the home crowd’s dismay.

Singapore continued their dominating performance in the second period, clearly capitalizing on the fatigue settling in on the small Malaysian side. Brandon Cheong (SIN #10), who assisted his captain for the first goal, then scored the second for his country after a rebound off the keeper in the opening minutes of the second period.

Singapore then unleashed a barrage against Malaysia with goals from Jatin Nair (SIN #16), Lee Renji (SIN #26), Calvin Lim (SIN #71) and Glendon Phua (SIN #20), who grabbed his second and third goal of the match to complete his hat trick even before the end of the second period.

Malaysia’s Gary Lee (MAS #08) was given a 2-minute penalty for rough tackle and Singapore took advantage of the power play and scored through Calvin Lim (SIN #71).

Jared Goh (SIN#18) then joined the list of goal scorers when he lobbed the ball over the Malaysian keeper. Singapore found their 10th goal of the match through forward, Muhammad Azhari (SIN #23), who was assisted by Calvin Lim (SIN #71). The second period ended with Singapore leading 10–0.

The Singapore scoring continued in the last period when Brandon Cheong (SIN #10) scored a goal during a fumble in front of the Malaysian goal post. Glendon Phua (SIN #20) found his fourth goal, half a minute later.

Singapore’s defender Sean Huang then extended his team’s lead to 13–0 during a power play after Takiyudin Mohd Haidar (MAS #11) was given a 2-minute penalty for a rough challenge on Calvin Lim (SIN #71).

Another Singaporean defender, Jonathan Heng (SIN #13) scored a surprised goal via the top left corner of the goalpost after an assist by Jared Goh (SIN #18) which stunned both the Malaysian defenders and goalkeeper. He then repeated the same feat, minutes later but this time he was assisted by Aaron Tan (SIN #5). With Jonathan Heng’s (SIN #13) two goals, Singapore led 15–0 with less than 10 minutes left.

Despite the large goal deficit, Malaysia continued to give their best efforts and almost scored but the shot was saved by Singapore’s keeper, Xie Yanglei (SIN# 22).

Singapore continued to dominate possession and eventually found two more goals through Calvin Lim (SIN #71) and Tay Jun Hao (SIN #70). Aaron Tan (SIN #05) then found the back of the net at the last second to wrap up an emphatic 18–0 win.

Singapore’s Captain and top scorer of the match, Glendon Phua, was proud of his team’s performance in their opening match. He commented, “Our team’s objective for the game was to make sure that we set off on our campaign with a good start. Malaysia put on a good fight during the first period but my team slowly gained confidence from the crowd and eventually put on an amazing performance in the last two period to win it by 18 goals.”

In Group A, Switzerland defeated defending champions Czech Republic 5–1 while Finland overwhelmed Japan with a 22–3 win. Sweden then edged out Switzerland 4–3 in a nail-biting game.

As for the women’s side, Sweden put up a dominating performance against Switzerland to win 11–0 in Group A. In Group B Japan outshone Malaysia and won 16–0. Both Sweden and Japan now top their group after a day of competition.

The second day of competition continues tomorrow where the Singapore men’s team will face China at 9am and then Russia at 7pm. The Singapore women’s team will play their opening match against Malaysia at 2pm .

Singapore vs Malaysia
Scoring by Period
1st Period: 1–0
2nd Period: 9–0 (10–0)
3rd Period 8–0 (18–0)

Top Scorers
Singapore
Glendon Phua (#20) – 4 goals

Singapore Roster
Aaron Tan En Jie (#05), Mah Jian Yong (#06), Abdul Hadi Bin Harris (#09), Cheong Zhi Xian Brandon (#10), Cheong Jin Cheng Winston (#11), Heng Wei Zhi Jonathan (#13), Guhen Markandran (#14), Jatin Nair (#16), Huang Junhong Sean (#17), Jared Goh (#18), Glendon Phua Zhi Ming (Captain) (#20), Xie Yanglei (#22), Muhammad Azhari Bin Mas’od (#23), Lee Renji (#26), Yeo Kai Xiang (#28), Muhammad Afiq Bin Shaharudin (#41), Tay Jun Hao (#70), Lim Hanrong Calvin (#71), Seow Jun Hao Mark (#88), Hazmi Bin Hasan (#99)

Malaysia Roster
Chong Zephaniah (#02), Toh Indy (#03), M. M. Akram Muhammad (#04), Abdul Malik Mohamad Hanif (#05), Mohd Haidir Mohd Hilmi Hafidz (#06), Ter Min Chiam (#07), Lee Kah Yoon Gary (#08), Gunasekaran Satyan (#09), Loh Darien (#10), Takiyudin Mohd Haidar (#11), Yahya Mohammad Nazrin (#12), Azmill Ahmad Hadzim (#71)

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