Choo (centre) gives tips to players during a practice session.
MIRI: A local educational institution here, i-Systems College Miri, is spearheading floorball sport development including the effort to set up the Sarawak Floorball Association soon.
The college was responsible for initiating and developing the sport in Miri since 2014.
“At first, the sport was being played among the students of the college before it was slowly extended to the schools here. Now, the sport is being played in various secondary schools in the city,” college principal Farrel Choo told thesundaypost.
Choo, who is also Taman Tunku Floorball Club president, said the college is now in the process of setting up the Sarawak Floorball Association.
Taman Tunku Floorball Club is the only floorball club registered under Sarawak Sport Council (MSNS).
“We are now in the process of submitting necessary documents to set up another two new clubs which are the Lutong Baru Floorball Club and the Riam Floorball Club. With three clubs, there will be no problem for us to set up Miri Division Floorball Association followed by Sarawak Floorball Association,” Choo revealed.
He added that the process can hopefully be completed by March this year.
At the national level, Malaysia Floorball Association (MFA) is bidding for the inclusion of floorball in the 2020 Malaysia Games (Sukma).
Janeter Kadir
Meanwhile, Janeter Kadir from Miri has been selected to represent Malaysia in the Asia Oceania qualification tournament at Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand from Jan 27 to Feb 1.
She only took up floorball in early 2017 after joining several tournaments organised by i-Systems College Miri.
“Her skills have been spotted after participating in the National Floorball Championship which was held in Shah Alam recently.
“It is a dream come true for Janeter as this will be her first time representing Malaysia. She is determined to make Malaysia proud and would like to thank everyone who has supported her all this while,” said Choo.
Janeter will be joined by another Sarawakian Ivana Sonia Beriak from Kampung Sampun Gerunggang, Asajaya in Samarahan.
Ivana Sonia Beriak
Ivana was introduced to floorball by friends at University Malaya in 2015.
The coming tournament will be the fourth time that she is representing the country.
She has played in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore where Malaysia took the bronze medal, the 2016 Asia-Oceania Floorball Confederation Cup in Singapore and the 2017 World Floorball Qualification Cup in New Zealand.
Floorball, a relatively new sport on the world stage, was ‘invented’ by the Swiss with universal rules established by the International Floorball Federation in 1981.
At the highest level, there is the biennial World Floorball Cup.
According to the website of Malaysia Floorball Association there are eight state associations with 1,501 active players and 36 registered clubs in the country.
Floorball is essentially a non-contact sport played by teams of five players with one goalkeeper.
The sticks are made of plastic and composite material and the ball weighs only around 23gm.