Lidköping, Sweden, 25-30 March
SWEDEN WORLD CHAMPION!
Norway were well prepared for the World Championship final against Sweden, and the team chocked everybody in the arena when Norway took the lead already in the 11th minute. Norway kept the good spirit during the first half. But in the second half Sweden showed the teams full capacity and became far too difficult for the Norwegian women. Sweden won 8-1 and got the gold medals at the ceremony after the final. Norway got well deserved silver medals and USA the bronze medals.
Both Norway and USA have taken big steps the recent years and if that continues they might give Sweden even more difficult fights the coming years.
Photo: Sara Hardingz
Photo: FIB
Photo: FIB
Sweden World Champion! Photo: Team Fabbe/Sören
Silvermedals to Norway. Photo: Romus Ramström
USA Bronze winner. Photo: Sara Hardingz.
SPECIAL AWARDS FROM THE SWEDISH BANDY ASSOCIATION
GOAL KEEPER
Sarah Ahlquist Scheider, USA
DEFENDER
Amanda Vainio, Sweden
MIDFIELDER
Ida Friman, Sweden
FORWARD
Laura Andresen Follesoe, Norway
GOAL SCORER
Esther De Jong, Netherlands – 9 goals
Edit Ljung, Sweden – 8 goals
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Agnes Ögren, Sweden
Finland-Netherlands. Photo: Romus Ramström
CONGRATULATIONS TO UKRAINE AND GERMANY!
The Ukraine women took their second victory in the World Championship today. We think the Ukraine girls are very satisfiend with their performance in this tournament and we all hope they will come back and show their skills again, despite the hard times they are facing. Very impressive to even participate in Lidköping!
Germany participated in a World Championship for the first time ever. We hope they will leave Lidköping with light and positive memories and hopefully come back again next championship!
TEAM UKRAINE Photo: Sara Hardingz
We have experienced a couple of historical milestones in Women Pool B. Germany has entered the international stage for the first time by participating in this World Championship. It is so important for bandy in general, but especially for the development of international bandy. The second milestone was that Ukraine won its first match in a championship when the team beat Switzerland 2-1. After that Ukraine also took the second victory during the tournament.
Another slightly historical moment was what happened in the Germany and Switzerland game after the draw result. The subsequent penalty shootout tournament seemed to never end. When a match in the preliminary round ends in a draw (2-2), a penalty shootout is carried out to separate the teams if they end up on the same points in the final table, since it is the head-to-head match that determines the placement of the teams. 34 penalty shots were needed for everything to be decided! The teams will probably have to practice penalty shots quite a lot until next season.
Sweden ready for final!
Norway-Finland. Photo: Sara Hardingz.
Sweden-USA. Photo: Sara Hardingz
The newborn national team! Photo: Gert Holmér
Ukraine-Netherlands. Photo: Sara Hardingz
Germany-Switzerland. Photo: Gert Holmér
Sweden-Norway, a lot of action. Photo: Team Fabbe/Sören
Sarah Ahlqvist – US Golie in action in the victory against Finland! Photo: Team Fabbe/Sören.