Singapore women’s tchoukball team suffer shock quarter-final defeat in world c’ships
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Vice-captain Ning Rynisari Abdul Wazid attempting a shot against Hong Kong in the quarter-finals of the Tchoukball World Championships in Prague on Aug 4.
PHOTO: TCHOUKBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE
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SINGAPORE – Heading into the Tchoukball World Championships in Prague, the Singapore women’s team had high expectations of reaching the final.
But those hopes came crashing down when the world No. 1 were stunned 39-38 by Hong Kong in the quarter-finals on Friday, narrowly missing out on a spot in the last four in the Czech Republic.
Vice-captain Ning Rynisari Abdul Wazid, 23, said: “We trained very hard for the past few months and went into this competition hoping to make it to the final, so this loss hurts. But this is sport, and we have to bounce back.
The team had won both their group-stage matches against Argentina (54-25) and France (55-37) to book their quarter-final spot as Group B winners. But they lost captain Irene Tan to a partial rupture of her calf muscle against the South Americans.
Tchoukball Association of Singapore president Delane Lim said losing Tan was a blow. He explained: “With seven debutantes here, the experience Irene brings to the team cannot be replaced.”
Rynisari added: “We tried not to let losing Irene affect us. It is something we couldn’t control, and we wanted to stay focused on our game. But, she is our captain and an experienced player, so she was always going to be hard to replace.”
The duo hope that the team can bounce back. Rynisari said: “I believe that every athlete wants to win, so losses can be difficult to accept. But in these moments, it is important to identify weaknesses we can work on and learn from.”
Lim said: “The consolation is that we brought seven young players, some of whom also won the world youth championships, to this event. The experience they gained from this will help us to come back stronger at the next world championships.”
Meanwhile, the Singapore men’s team lost 56-55 to world No. 2 Italy in their semi-final. They had defeated Bangladesh (68-14) and the UK (56-33) in the group stages before beating Thailand 67-39 in the quarter-finals.
Lim said: “I am very proud of the men’s team. Italy are ranked No. 2 in the world, and we pushed them to the end. We would have loved to make the final, but the team showed that they can match the best teams in the world.”
The women’s team took on Germany in the 5th-8th play-off at press time, while the men’s team will face Switzerland for the third-place play-off on Saturday.
