National Women's Dodgeball Team Wins Gold in WDBC 2016

The National Dodgeball team proudly holds the Malaysian flag before departing for the World Dodge Ball Championship (WDBC) 2016 in Australia with hopes to win gold. Photo credit : Kok Wai Lynn

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SUBANG JAYA | The Malaysian women’s dodgeball team won its first gold medal in the 5th World Dodge Ball Championships (WDBC) held on 19 to 22 October this year. Placed first in the world ranking among eight countries, the team took the spot by winning the final match against Canada, with a score of 6-5 at the recent tournament held in Melbourne, Australia. “We didn’t expect to win gold. “We just wanted to place top three in the world ranking,” said Vice Captain of the team, Kok Wai Lynn, 20, when asked about the results of the game. She added that the team only had three months to train for the championships. Kok, who was also the former captain of Taylor’s Lakeside Storm women’s dodgeball team as well as a School of Communication student, said she was extremely pleased with the team’s teamwork during the final match despite encountering a few difficulties during training before the finale. “It was tough because the team members were formed through the National Dodgeball Championships results and these players came from different dodgeball clubs in Malaysia. “As we’ve always played against each other and not with each other, the playing styles were different,” she said. Besides teamwork, the team also encountered other challenges such as the cold weather which caused the team players to have difficulties warming up their bodies. Fortunately, they managed to avoid any injuries during the matches. In regards to the team’s future plans, Kok said the team wanted to improve their training, recruit more players, increase all the team members’ skills to match national levels and maintain their status as champions. “Honestly, we were just really proud that we could do it for our country and were given the chance to represent in the first place. “Getting the gold was definitely a huge bonus for us,” said Kok. The women’s team performance during this year’s WDBC was their best, surpassing last year’s result where the team won bronze. Canada and the United States of America took the first and second runner-up spots. Teams representing Australia, Melbourne, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore also took part in the championships.

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