Team GB women bandy team want sport included in Olympics – BBC

Great Britain scored 24 goals in their five World Championships matches in Sweden

Team GB international Clare Ledbury hopes to see bandy become an Olympic sport after Britain's women made their World Championships debut in Sweden.

In an eight-team competition, Britain topped Group B with wins over the Netherlands, Switzerland and Estonia.

But the Dutch gained revenge with a 1-0 play-off final victory, leaving Team GB in sixth place overall.

"It's an English-born sport, it was created in the Fens," Ledbury told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

"The only problem we have right now is funding. It's not a well known sport so we're going to be pushing really hard to try to get some sponsors involved because unfortunately in the UK ice time is super-expensive.

"We'll be reaching out to businesses and seeing if they want to be involved in what will be a successful sport going forward."

Bandy is an 11-a-side game played with sticks on ice the size of a football pitch and, unlike ice hockey, uses a ball instead of a puck.

The sport attracted attention in 2018 when it was demonstrated to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Sweden.

"There's a huge push across the Scandinavian countries to get into the Olympics and they are close to doing so - so we could have an English-born sport in the Olympics," centre midfielder Ledbury said.

"We just need to keep growing the sport, getting more people participating. It reaches a different type of audience because it's a non-contact sport and appeals to people who might find ice hockey a little bit scary.

"Hopefully we can get some sessions in the UK for people to come and have a go. You can have the best fun ever."

Team GB at least had the consolation of taking home silver medals from the championships in Vaxjo.

Topping their group meant a play-off semi-final against the fourth-placed Swiss, which they won 9-0 with three goals for Saga Hartley.

The final against the Netherlands was settled by a golden goal by Meinke Gommans after the match was scoreless at full-time.

"It was just an unfortunate bounce that took it into the net around our goalie and we were all absolutely gutted at the time. Emotions were running so high," added Ledbury.

"There were plenty of tears, but after the short-term pain was over we took our medals and we're incredibly proud of what we achieved in the tournament."

Hosts Sweden won the overall title by thrashing Norway 12-0, with Finland third following a 5-2 victory over the US.

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Team GB women bandy team want sport included in Olympics - BBC