Floor hockey team loses to Hungary again
GRAZ, Austria — Jamaica’s floor hockey team did not contest the third-place match yesterday as originally scheduled, but they fine-tuned for the encounter with a spirited display despite losing 3-6 to highly regarded Hungary.
The Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) team grabbed an early 2-0 lead on-court inside the Stadthalle Graz, but could not maintain the advantage against the resilient and skilful Europeans.
Only two days ago, the Jamaicans lost 0-7 here to the same opponents.
While the Jamaicans arrived at the venue yesterday morning ready to play-off for the bronze medal against Costa Rica, the organisers shuffled the pool of games, and that resulted in a rematch with Hungary.
Jamaica are now slated to battle the Central Americans today.
The Jamaica Observer was not able to get official word from organisers regarding the schedule adjustment up to press time yesterday.
The SOJ head of delegation Glendon West, filling in for floor hockey head coach Donna Goldson who was said to be “under the weather”, was not fazed by the change. In fact, West welcomed the opportunity to sharpen against formidable opposition.
“Against Hungary yesterday it was our best match since we’ve been here. The guys really fought very hard. In fact, we were leading Hungary 2-0 and in the last stage we faltered and they won 3-6,” he said.
“We saw a lot of persons shooting at goal, and apart from one of our preliminary games, this is the most goals we would have scored in a match so far. The defence stood up well, but things fell down after that,” the head of delegation told the Observer.
A few members of the Jamaica delegation have suffered from flu-like or cold symptoms since arriving here over a week ago, and some floor hockey players have sustained injuries during practice and competitive matches.
That left the 16-member hockey squad short of three players yesterday.
“One of the problems was that we didn’t have everybody available because three persons were out due to illness, so players had to be playing on four lines instead of the usual three lines. Hungary are the strongest team here and I think that they are the favourites. That game prepares us well for the bronze medal match against Costa Rica,” West explained.