PETALING JAYA: The impressive achievements by Malaysian teams at the World Dodgeball Championships in Edmonton, Canada on Monday will be the starting point of the country’s dominance in the sport at international level, said the Malaysian Association of Dodgeball (MAD).
The men’s team won the gold medal by defeating Australia 10-5. It was the country’s third victory after winning the competition in 2017 and 2018. The mixed team won the silver, after losing 5-3 to the home team.
The men’s team, captained by the competition’s Most Valuable Player Carlos Goonting, topped their group with four victories and one tie, before another win against Canada in the semifinal.
MAD president Datuk Radha Krishnan said: “Dodgeball is a growing sport in Malaysia. We can see this in schools, colleges and communities. This win will be the start of Malaysia’s dodgeball reputation worldwide.
“We are very proud of our team’s achievements as we faced some of the world’s best. The team will be rewarded accordingly.
I also want to thank our coaches for their excellent work in preparing our team.”
Krishnan said the last tournament that MAD, which was founded in 2009 under the Youth and Sports Ministry, participated in was in 2019 in Mexico, where it clinched the first runner-up spot before the height of Covid-19 restricted activities worldwide.
“We created the National Dodgeball Championship, a local event to scout and shortlist the best players to play for the national team. It was a long process.
We needed RM350,000 to train our players and send them to tournaments.”
Krishnan said MAD approached many parties but some could not contribute.
“However, founder and chairman of the Better Malaysia Foundation (BMF) Tan Sri Vincent Tan agreed to fund us with a sum of RM55,000, as dodgeball is a rising sport in Malaysia and we are a team comprising Malaysians of different backgrounds, which reflect national unity.”
Krishnan added that BMF has helped many athletes in the industry, such as tower-running champion Soh Wai Ching and track and field athlete Shereen Vallabouy to go further in their careers and make Malaysia known internationally.
He also expressed hope that more organisations would emulate BMF in supporting sports.
“Tan Sri Vincent Tan is very supportive of us competing in the championship. My deepest appreciation to him and the whole BMF team. Public support also made a tremendous difference to the players in terms of motivation to win this competition.”
Krishnan said MAD is hoping that BMF would continue supporting it for the next championship and beyond. The dodgeball national team will take part in another tournament in April next year, that will be held in Kuala Lumpur.
