The Dutch team Doing winners of Prague Wheel Open 2012 — 15.08.2012

The “appetizer” of the upcoming jubilee 20th Czech open in the form of the wheelchair Prague Wheel Open was organised for the second time and the winners are crowned.

Among the medallists there are two Czech and one Dutch team – but contrary to the premiere tournament the most precious trophy goes to the country of tulips this time – the team called Doing.

In the quarter-finals there were 4 Czech and 4 foreign teams and the tournament continued with the same ratio to the very finals. The first semi-final was played between the Dutch Doing and a home team SKV Prague ComAp Team. Despite the impressive finishing spurt of the Prague team the Dutch champions didn’t give up on victory and with a score 3-2 paid back the last year’s defeat to the ComAp Team.

The second struggle for the presence at the finals was again decided by one single goal and to the satisfaction of the Czech supporters the second position was guaranteed to the newly reborn team of FBC United České Budějovice over the Dutch De Watergeuzen full of national team players. They qualified for the finals with a victory 2-1.

The bronze-medal game offered another drama to the spectators, where the Prague SKV team managed to beat De Watergeuzen 3:2 and the medal goes to them from the second year of tournament. After that – the already full Radotin sports hall - was in anticipation of the final between Doing and FBC United.

The well-balanced duel was decided upon in the third period. After the scores of Frank Maagdenberg and the last year’s best player’s Shiraz Bandhoe the players of FBC United tried their very best to push the match at least to shootouts, but they did not manage to score. After the final horn there was a burst of joy in the Dutch team and the Prague Wheel Open has acquired the new kings for the year to come.

Best players awarded

At the evening ceremony the best players of the tournament were awarded and the director of the tournament.

- This year’s decision making was extremely difficult, for each award we had two candidates, but I do believe we agreed on the players with most remarkable performance, Dominik Drahoninský commented.

The Best goalkeeper was opted for Jiří Němec of FBC United České Budějovice. Patrick van Eeden – the captain of the Dutch De Watergeuzen, who scored 13 goals in the tournament and led the players’ rating, was awarded as the Best shooter. And finally the Best player of the whole tournament was voted Zbyněk Sýkora from FBC United. Last year he won with his team FBC Ostrava and after coming back to České Budějovice he confirmed his reputation of a key player and with his team he worked his way to the final match.

Beside these three best players the all-star team of the tournament was extended by defenders Frans Schutte from Doing and Jan Rajznover from SKV ComAp Team, the starry offensive line being completed by Shiraz Bandhoe from Doing.

The second year of Prague Wheel Open is over, but the organising team is looking into the future:
- In the next year we are expecting the Swedish team to take part and they could dramatically intervene in the final matches, the Head of the tournament Dominik Drahohínský says.

Prague will witness another great wheelchair floorball event in August 2013!

More information at: http://www.praguewheelopen.cz/en & Photos: http://praguewheelopen.cz/en/fotogalerie/zapasy
Dominik Drahonínský, tournament director dominik.drahoninsky@fbh.cz
Lubomír Skála, tournament secretary skala.lubomir@gmail.com