By Amanda Tan
As the World Ultimate Championship (WUC) comes to an end, a mix of emotions are felt across all 3 teams from Singapore. While the results of the World Championships were not what Singapore had hoped for, the determination and grit of these athletes will continue to inspire the players in the ultimate community. Despite the results, we continue to celebrate the success and key moments of our teams.
Mixed Division (Otters)
Singapore’s mixed team was seeded 2nd in pool D with France, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei. Unlike most countries, Singapore’s decision to stack the mixed team has come to boost Singapore’s standings in the international ultimate scene.
The mixed team started the World Championships strong with 2 wins on the first day against Chinese Taipei and Colombia with a score of 15-8 and 13-10 respectively. Following a strong start, they continued to dominate the second day with 2 huge wins against Malaysia and Hong Kong with a score of 15-5 and 15-3 respectively. With 4 wins, Singapore needed a win against France on Day 3 to come out on top of their pool.
Despite the strong start for the mixed team, the third day came with its own challenges. With Singapore’s ability to score breaks, the mixed team was leading the game at 4-7 until France scored 4 breaks in a row, taking half at 8-7 before eventually taking the game to 15-10. Finishing second in pool D, Singapore was reshuffled into Pool F, vying for a spot in the quarter finals. Singapore’s 6th game was against Australia, and winning this game would help Singapore advance straight into the quarters. Winds in this game started picking up and Australia used that to their advantage having regularly played in windy conditions. Australia managed to break twice very early in the game, giving them an edge as Singapore tried to navigate through the winds. Despite their best efforts to adapt to the wind, Singapore suffered another defeat of 15-12.
Despite the 2 losses, Singapore’s next two games against Italy and India proved their hunger and determination to make the quarters. Showing incredible effort trading points against Italy and being up one break allowed Singapore to win the game, 14-13. In their final attempt to make quarters, Singapore gave their best effort against India. Starting the game strong with a 4 point lead at the start, Singapore eventually took the game with a 15-8 win, advancing to the quarters.
In the top 8 playoffs, Singapore’s game against Canada proved to be another difficult game. The first 4 points of the game looked promising with both teams trading with each other before Canada scoring 3 consecutive breaks. The breaks had broken Singapore's momentum which ultimately set them back at 14-7.
While Singapore was no longer in the medal contention, our athletes continued to fight hard in their remaining games. Winning their game against Germany meant that Singapore was now fighting for 5th at the world stage. Being their final game of the tournament, the mixed team put their best effort into the game. Despite that, Singapore was unable to recover from the wind and lost with a score of 15-9. The loss for Singapore in this game meant that Singapore had finished the tournament in 6th place.
For Chin Ye Chew, playing on an international stage was a learning experience. Learning to play in the unforgiving Australian winds was something he had to learn to adjust and adapt to. “The loss to France was a pretty big blow to the whole team as we were up 7-4 at one point but ended up losing 10-15 to them because we couldn’t adjust to the wind quickly enough when it picked up during the second half.”
While the loss of critical games were devastating, Ginny Teo felt that achieving 6th in WUC is definitely something notable as it is the first time Singapore has managed to break into quarters at Worlds. She felt that the team has definitely worked hard and achieved this result together, which is something she is happy with.
Open Division (Koels)
The Open’s division for Singapore proved to be a challenging division from the start. Being pooled with some of the biggest names in Ultimate, Singapore was seeded 4th in Pool C along with Australia, Germany and New Zealand.
Starting the campaign with 2 losses was not a good start for the Open’s team. Despite all of their efforts, Singapore lost their first game against Germany with a score of 15-5. Singapore’s second game proved to be as tough as the first against the Australians. After being scored on 4 times by the Australians, Singapore was finally able to score their first point with Jonathan Yeo assisting the goal to Gui Shan Tan. The game ended with a 15-4 loss.
A common struggle that most have agreed on was the strong Australian winds. Coming from a country with minimal wind, playing in such conditions was a struggle and would require some time to adapt to. By the time the team had adapted to the wind, it was far too late.
Team captain and lead scorer, Aaron Toh, said that the wind had caused the team big problems as their usual style of gameplay did not work with the wind and because of that, they gave the disc away too easily.
The first 2 days of the campaign were disappointing for Singapore. With 3 losses in the pool play, Singapore was reshuffled into Pool G with Hong Kong, France and Italy. Learning from earlier pool play games, Singapore seemed to have adjusted better, closing the scores during each game in the new pool. Singapore played their first game against Italy. Finally being able to adapt to the wind, Singapore started trading points with Italy, before taking half with a score of 8-7. The teams continued trading scores up till the last point, with an unfortunate loss on universe at 12-13.
Singapore’s next game against France started off well with the two teams trading the first 8 points. However, France had managed to work through Singapore’s play style, France took 4 breaks in a row before taking half at 8-4. Unable to convert any defensive points, Singapore went through another defeat with a score of 15-8.
The final pool play game was against Hong Kong. After 5 devastating losses, the Open’s team was hungry for a win. Starting the game on defence, Singapore started the game trading points before going on a break train once they had figured out a way to play around Hong Kong. Scoring multiple breaks, Singapore eventually beat Hong Kong with a score of 15-9.
With a single win during pool play, Singapore was put in the 9-16 playoffs. Singapore’s first game against Austria ended with a loss with a score of 15-9 and a 14-9 loss against People’s Republic of China in the semifinals of the lower bracket. With 2 losses in the playoffs, this meant that Singapore was now playing for 15th against Hong Kong. Having played and won against Hong Kong previously, Singapore was determined not to lose this one. Knowing exactly how to break their defensive structure, Singapore scored 2 breaks in the first half giving them a lead before taking half at 6-8. During the second half, Singapore only managed to trade points. With the early break in the first half, Singapore eventually won their final game with 12-15, taking 15th at World’s.
For Darryl Ng, even though the overall results of WUC were disappointing, he was still able to look back at the tournament with a smile. The fighting spirit and resilience of each individual made the campaign worthwhile.
Having injured himself prior to Worlds, Darryl had to manage all the injuries in order to play his best. “Although I felt that I was not physically where I hoped to be at WUC, I was mentally 100% and accepted that I would only be in full control of the controllable things and be the best version of a teammate I can be.” says Darryl looking back at the campaign.
Team captain Aaron Toh also reflected on his captaincy throughout the campaign when asked about the challenges he had faced. “Personally, as captain I think I could have done better in preparing the team for the mental adversity they would face at worlds, and the discipline that was required of top teams to stay clean and enjoy the grind. As a player, I think that I tried to do my best when called upon, and stayed adaptable to what the coaches required of me”.
Women Division (Pangolins)
The women’s team had their fair share of struggle during this World’s campaign. Being seeded 5th in Pool B with other Ultimate giants was not an easy feat. Pool B consisted of Colombia, Canada, Germany, Chinese Taipei and Great Britain. Despite the initial seeding, Singapore played their hardest and fought till the very last point.
The first day of WUC had the women’s team play 2 games, against Germany and Colombia. Even though they were known to be very strong teams, it did not shake the women’s grit and determination to put up a good fight. After putting everything on the line, Singapore unfortunately lost, but with commendable results of 15-9 for both games.
The second day of WUC started out shaky for Singapore with yet another game against an Ultimate giant, Canada. Starting the game on defence, Singapore was unable to work through Canada’s play style and was scored on 7 times before they were able to find a strategy that could work. Despite their best effort, Singapore lost with a score of 15-6.
Singapore’s next game was against Great Britain and things started to look better for them. The score on this game was tight, trading points until their first break, giving them a lead at 5-6. Determined for a win, Singapore fought through and won with a final score of 14-15, on universe with Serena Sim assisting the goal to Kelly Chong.
There was one more game left in Pool B before they were reshuffled. Singapore played their next game against Chinese Taipei. Given a recent win, Singapore gave their best in this game, giving Chinese Taipei a run for their money. They had to tighten their defences and play better offence to even stand a chance against Singapore. Even with their best efforts, Singapore lost with a score of 11-14.
Singapore was now reshuffled into Pool E with France, Great Britain and People’s Republic of China. Their first game in the new pool was against France. Starting the game on defence, Singapore was able to score the first break, putting them up against France. Scoring early breaks put Singapore in the lead, eventually leading to win with a score of 14-11.
In the next few games against People’s Republic of China, Chinese Taipei and Great Britain, Singapore came so close but were just unable to convert the points to a goal, resulting in losses in these important games with a score of 11-15, 10-12 and 5-15 respectively. Now playing for 11th, Singapore played against the People's Republic of China. The game started off rough as China scored multiple breaks and Singapore was unable to come back after being 5 points down at halftime. Trying their best to close the gap, Singapore ended the game with a 15-8 loss, ending the tournament placing 12th.
For Ermilia Pok, even though the result of WUC was not something she was hoping for, knowing that this is only one chapter of the team’s ultimate journey and having played at such a level showed her that there is still lots of room for improvement for Singapore Ultimate.
Moving Forward…
The World Ultimate Championship 2024 may be over but the hardwork and dedication of our athletes and coaches continues. While the overall scoreboard does not accurately reflect our athletes' efforts through this campaign, our teams have vouched to come back stronger, working through the setbacks of this campaign. Our players are not done showing what they are made of.
The Ultimate Players Association (Singapore) is the body responsible for the governance of flying disc sports in Singapore. These sports include Ultimate, Beach Ultimate and Disc Golf.
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