PAKENHAM Floorball Club will host the best of the Asia Pacific’s female teams for the Women’s World Floorball Championships Qualifications this month.
The Asia Pacific tournament qualifiers, running from 23-25 January at Pakenham’s Cardinia LIFE, will see Team Australia vie against Japan, Singapore and New Zealand for a chance to book a spot in the World Cup later this year.
The Squishees have three club members in the Australian team – Kayleigh Tribe, Freya Carson and Ash Bourke – who will fight their hardest to qualify for the World Cup in Tampere, Finland, this upcoming December.
The three best teams out of the four will qualify for the international tournament with Australia’s matches scheduled for 3.15pm Friday (Japan), 3pm Saturday (New Zealand) and 3.15pm Sunday (Singapore).
The opening ceremony on the morning of Friday 23 January also includes The Choir of Hard Knocks and a local dance troupe, with an opening welcome by the local Indigenous Elder Aunty.
It caps off a stellar few months for the club as a number of Pakenham’s men’s team competed at the 10th IFF World Floorball Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, in December.
James Parnall, Brad King, Gavin Staindl, Jeremy Monckton, Paul Hogg and Raymond Staindl took to the field for Australia and the Aussies excelled, beating Russia in their first game to create the upset of the tournament.
Australia won two of their five matches to finish 14th overall, while Monckton was named best on court for Australia twice at the championships.
