Netball, floorball to debut at next year's Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games

SINGAPORE - The inclusion of netball and floorball at the 2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (Aimag) is a vital step towards gaining entry into the Asian Games, said the respective national bodies in Singapore.

The Aimag scheduled for May in Bangkok and Chonburi features 24 sports and involve more than 60 countries from Asia and Oceania. E-sports, which was a demonstration sport at the 2017 edition, will also debut as a medal sport at the next Aimag.

Having made its major Games bow at the 2015 SEA Games, Singapore Floorball Association (SFA) president Kenneth Ho believes his sport has continued to build momentum and hopes it will be included at the 2022 Asiad in Hangzhou, China.

He said: "The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is the second-largest Asian multi-sport event after the Asian Games, hence having floorball in it will be great publicity for the sport and hopefully a good cause for it to be included in upcoming Asian Games."

The Republic won both golds at the 2015 Singapore SEA Games and the women's team title at last year's edition in the Philippines. The latter also achieved their best position of 12th at last year's Women's World Floorball Championship.

Having netball at the quadrennial Aimag will raise its profile in the region, said Netball Singapore (NS) president Jessica Tan. She added: "This a major step forward for netball in Asia and one that we hope will lead to many more countries taking up the sport when they see that netball is a fast and exciting sport."

National captain Charmaine Soh agreed: "We're excited to compete on a level like that. For many years, netball hasn't been very recognised as a sport (in the region) and this is the first step to (getting wider recognition)."

After a 13-year hiatus, netball returned to the 2015 SEA Games - with host Singapore claiming the gold - and it has remained on the programme. Malaysia are the two-time defending champions.

To develop the sport in the region and ensure it becomes a mainstay at the biennial Games, NS has been working closely with other South-east Asian countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

Netball Thailand president Datin Seri Narumon Siriwat, who pushed for the sport to incorporated at next year's Aimag, said: "Now, we have the chance for Asian Indoor Games, which means more games and it gives players more goals to work on. Hopefully, there will also bring about more support for the sport."

For Singapore men's floorball team, the Aimag is an opportunity to test themselves against the continent's best after the World Floorball Championship 2020 Asia-Oceania Qualifiers in March was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Aimag will also serve as preparation for the women's team, scheduled to compete in next December's Women's Floorball World Championship.

For Ho, even as more opportunities to showcase floorball open up, the SFA remains committed to developing the sport within the local community.

Since the 2015 SEA Games, it has come up with initiatives that see national players go to schools to interact with youths and plan do something similar after the Aimag.

Ho said: "With the SEA Games experience, we send our national players to schools to inspire the youths with their stories as well as promoting this competition to them.

"I believe very few people have heard of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games so would be a good platform to share and hopefully inspire youths from other sports.