MDF targets four golds at Dodgeball Asia

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Dodgeball Federation (MDF) has set a target of four gold medals at the Asian Dodgeball Championship 2024 which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from today to Wednesday.

Its president, Nozieka Faisal said the target was expected in men’s, mixed, male Under (U) – 21 years old and mixed U-16 – from the six categories in competition.

“I do not deny that the women’s squad and the U-21 women are also capable of winning gold for Malaysia. However, we need to work harder to compete with leading teams from other countries,” she said when contacted by Bernama in Riyadh.

An excellent performance at the tournament is also important to qualify for the 2025 Dodgeball World Cup, with the top three teams in each category earning a ticket to the world level competition.

According to Nozieka, among the main challengers who are expected to give fierce opposition to the national squad are Japan and Australia, as well as the host Saudi Arabia, even though it is the first time they are participating in the tournament.

“Japan is a very strong team especially for the men’s category. The discipline and team spirit among their athletes is very high.

“The sport of Dodgeball requires team spirit and belonging like a family to play well and I see that spirit in our current squad,” she said.

She said that one of the challenges facing her side this year was the lack of funds and the difficulty in finding female athletes for the U-16 mixed category.

Nozieka said that the U-16 mixed team could only undergo training for two months following the disbandment of the U-16 men’s squad at the last minute because that category was not contested in this edition.

Despite the challenge, Nozieka hopes the athletes can control their emotions and feelings of excitement to return home with success.

At the 2019 Asian Dodgeball Championship in Hong Kong, Malaysia won silver medals for the men’s and mixed categories, bronze for the U21 men’s category and fourth place for the U-21 women’s category.

The achievement qualified the national squad for the 2022 World Cup in Egypt, where the men’s and mixed teams took home silver, the U-21 men took bronze, while the women’s and U-21 women’s squads finished the campaign in fourth place.