KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 ― The Malaysian women dodgeball team is the top-ranked team globally after winning its first gold medal in the Dodgeball World Championships.
The Malaysia Association of Dodgeball (MAD) confirmed with Malay Mail Online that this was the first time the women’s team from Malaysia has come in first in the world rankings.
“As of 2016, Malaysian female are ranked #1 in the world after defeating team Canada in the gold medal match 6-5 at the recent World Dodgeball Federation (WDBF) 5th World Dodgeball Championships held in Melbourne, Australia,” it said in a statement today on the win last Saturday.
The Malaysian men’s team stayed in second spot worldwide after winning the silver medal at the same championships the same day.
Malaysia, which hosted the inaugural Dodgeball World Championships in 2012, has participated in all five editions of the annual championships.
A MAD official told Malay Mail Online that this year's results was the Malaysian team's best-ever performance, surpassing last year's championships where the men's team won silver and the women's team won bronze.
The men's team also won the bronze medal in both 2013 and 2014, while the women's team had won the bronze medal in 2012 and 2014.
According to MAD, the world rankings by the World Dodgeball Federation (WDBF) for the teams are determined through the annual Dodgeball World Championships' results.
Hong Kong Dodgeball Commissioner Brian Li congratulated Malaysia for being crowned champions in a sport which he said had always been dominated by the West, saying in the statement: “This is not just a victory for the Malaysian but for Asian communities.”
MAD is expected to greet the country's “dodgeball heroes” early tomorrow morning at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) when they return from Australia.
Earlier this year, Malaysian supporters, the prime minister, the youth and sports minister turned up at the airport to welcome home the country's Olympics and Paralympics medal-winning athletes. Malaysia had its best performance ever this year with its haul of four silver and one bronze at the Olympics and three golds and one bronze at the Paralympic Games.
For this year’s Dodgeball World Championships, the women’s team’s champion is Malaysia, while Canada and US took the first and second runner-up spot, while Canada took gold in the men’s category, followed by Malaysia (silver) and Australia (bronze).
Teams representing Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Pacific Islands and Singapore also took part in the championships. Players from championships host Melbourne replaced Pakistan, which was unable to join this year due to visa issues.
According to the championships’ website, the sport of dodgeball is played by pitting two teams of six players against each other, with the goal being the elimination of all the players on the other team by either hitting them with a ball or by catching a ball thrown by the other in full.
A team wins a set or gets a point for each time they fully eliminate the opposing team within a 40-minute duration for a standard match.
