SINGAPORE - The Republic's tchoukball teams stamped their dominance over the region again as they swept both the men's and women's titles at the 6th South-east Asia Tchoukball Championships at the Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok on Sunday (Nov 17).

It is the men's fifth title - their only loss came in the final of the 2011 edition in Vietnam - while the women have won five straight titles. There was no women's competition in the inaugural tournament in 2009.

In Bangkok, Singapore's men's team beat Malaysia 55-43, while their female counterparts beat the host nation 59-21.

National player Amy Tan, 29, said a strong start in the final helped the team.

"We made full use of our possession and were able to convert them into scores," she noted. "When we did lose possession, we saved the opponents' shots and launched successful counter attacks, extending our lead in the early part of the game."

National men's player Shah Rykal, 20, pointed to slick teamwork as being a key factor. He added: "Our players have great chemistry with each other (and) with the great understanding between us, we stuck to the game plan and were able to execute it well."

Singapore has performed well at other international meets. In August, both the men's and women's team finished third at the World Tchoukball Championships. Both teams are ranked third in the world.

The sport is not however, among the 56 that will feature at the Nov 30-Dec 11 SEA Games in the Philippines.

Tchoukball Association of Singapore president Delane Lim said the association has plans to grow the sport in the region, such as campaigning for it to be a demonstration sport at the 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam.

He said: "We have achieved significant milestones in the past three years by winning on the international stage, hosting world-level games in our country, and having local recognition as a national federation by Sport Singapore, as well as being a provisional member of the Singapore National Olympic Council.

"We have shown that Singapore can do well in tchoukball. If we have more support, and if we can get more Singaporeans to play the game, we can really lift the sport to the next level and maybe even become world champions in the near future."