Singapore claim bronze medal in debut Ice Hockey World Championship Division IV campaign

SINGAPORE: The Singapore men’s national ice hockey team wrapped up their first trip to the IIHF world championships with a convincing 8-2 win over Malaysia on Tuesday (Mar 8), a result that secured them third place in the Division IV tournament. 

Singapore also picked up a win over higher-ranked Kuwait during the Mar 3 to 8 event. 

The team’s journey to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to compete in the tournament took 30 hours, but their road to Central Asia began in Manila more than two years ago. 

Singapore qualified for the World Championship after bagging the silver medal at the 2019 SEA Games and were scheduled to play in the tournament in March 2021. It was, however, cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ice hockey world championships are split into five tiers, with traditional powerhouses like Canada, Finland and the United States competing in the top division, and lower-ranked nations competing in Division I to Division IV.

A new entrant to the IIHF world rankings, Singapore is currently ranked 55th out of 55 teams on the world stage, and their opponents at the Bishkek Arena were Iran, Kuwait, hosts Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia.

The COVID-19 pandemic meant that Singapore had some catching up to do to prepare for the tournament, said the team’s coach Rob Martini.

“Many of the other countries have continued to practise throughout the pandemic, and this allowed them to hit the ground running – or the ice skating, if you will,” he told CNA.

“Singapore has done an outstanding job handling the virus, and it goes without saying that public health always comes first at times like this, but it did mean that there were some adjustments that we had to make and challenges that we encountered during the early stages of the tournament.

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