MIRI: Sarawak will be counting on Ivana Sonia Beriak and Janeter Kadir to bring national glory after both were selected by the Malaysia Floorball Association to represent Malaysia in the Asia Oceania qualifiers at Huamark Indoor Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand from Jan 27 to Feb 1.
The lasses will undergo centralised training with the national squad in Kuala Lumpur before departing for Bangkok.
Ivana who hails from Kampung Sampun Gerunggang, Asajaya, Samarahan is a former student of SMK Asajaya and pursuing her degree at University Malaya.
She was introduced to floorball by her friends at the university and after finding the sport very interesting, fast paced and safe, she started playing the game in 2015.
The tournament will be Ivana’s fourth time representing Malaysia after playing for the country in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore where Malaysia won the bronze medal, the 2018 Asia-Oceania Floorball Confederation Cup in Singapore and the 2017 World Floorball Qualification Cup in New Zealand.
Ivana is looking forward to have more Sarawakians play floorball and represent Malaysia.
Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team.
Meanwhile, Miri-born Janeter received her education at SMK Pujut Miri and Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang, here.
She started taking up the sport in early 2017 after competing in several tournaments organised by i-Systems College Miri.
Her skills were spotted after participating in the National Floorball Championship held in Shah Alam recently. It is a dream come true for Janeter as this will be her first time to represent Malaysia.
She is determined to make Malaysia proud and thanked everyone who has supported her.
The International Floorball Federation (IFF) has received 30 entries for the 12th IFF Women’s World Floorball Championships to be held in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in December 2019.
Switzerland, as the host, has received automatic qualification while 29 other countries will vie for the remaining 15 places.
For Belgium and the Philippines, this will be their first ever WFC qualification event.
The final round will be held with 16 teams, divided into four groups according to their rankings and ballot draw.
In Europe, there will be four qualification groups with two venues – Gdansk (Poland) and Trencin (Slovakia).
The Asia-Oceania (AOFC) qualification will be held in Bangkok, Thailand and the Americas qualification will be played near Detroit, USA.
In AOFC, the teams are divided into two groups where group A comprises Australia, Thailand, New Zealand and Philippines and group B consists of Malaysia, Japan, Singapore and Korea.
In Sarawak, floorball was introduced in Miri in 2014 by i-Systems College Miri and is now being played in various secondary schools here.
Recently, the college sent a men’s team to represent Sarawak in the 2018 Merdeka Cup National Floorball Championship in Shah Alam.
The Sarawak Floorball Association is yet to be formed and the Malaysia Floorball Association is making plans to submit the sport for Sukma 2020.
