SINGAPORE — A hat-trick by Jill Quek helped the Singapore women’s team to overcome an initial 1-3 deficit and stage an eventual 5-3 comeback victory over South Korea in the opening match of their World Floorball Championships (WFC) Group B qualifying campaign in Wellington, New Zealand, yesterday.
By Teo Teng Kiat - February 1
SINGAPORE — A hat-trick by Jill Quek helped the Singapore women’s team to overcome an initial 1-3 deficit and stage an eventual 5-3 comeback victory over South Korea in the opening match of their World Floorball Championships (WFC) Group B qualifying campaign in Wellington, New Zealand, yesterday.
Despite being ranked three spots below Singapore, world No 21 South Korea raced to a 3-1 lead at the ASB Sports Centre.
Shim Yejin opened the scoring for South Korea, and after Amanda Yeap equalised, the Koreans went ahead again when Kim Namhyung found the net and Shim scored a second goal.
But Quek, who is also the national team coach, threw her teammates a lifeline when she scored in the second period. The veteran 39-year-old struck again in the third and final period to make it 3-3 before Ong Hui Hui gave Singapore the lead for the first time.
Quek then clinched a vital win for Singapore when she scored her third goal.
“I’m glad the team managed to settle down and come together to pull off the win,” she told TODAY.
“Hopefully, we bring this momentum into our next game against Japan and continue to grow stronger together from there.”
Singapore and South Korea are among eight teams in the Asia-Oceania zone vying for four places in the WFC 2017, which will be held at the end of the year in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Singapore will face world No 13 Japan today before ending their group campaign against Causeway rivals Malaysia, ranked 30th in the world, on Thursday.
Group A is made up of Thailand, China, New Zealand and Australia.
The two group winners qualify for the finals.
The runners-up play the other group’s third-placed side, with two winners taking the last two spots for Asia-Oceania. TEO TENG KIAT
