2011 Ball Hockey World Championship

The 2011 Ball Hockey World Championship was the ninth Ball Hockey World Championship held by ISBHF in Bratislava, Slovakia. 2009 champions the Czech Republic defended their title and won the championship for the third time, beating Canada in the final. == Elite Division == Ten teams formed two groups of five. Group A contained the Czech Republic, Canada, Portugal, Germany and Finland. Group B consisted of Slovakia, the United States, Austria, Greece and Switzerland. Group winners advanced to the semifinals, while teams finishing second and third played a knockout match (A2 versus B3 and A3 versus B2) to determine the other two semifinalists. At the quarterfinal stage, the Czech Republic conceded the first goal against Greece before taking a come-from-behind 5–1 win. In the semifinals, held at the Ondrej Nepela Arena on 25 June 2011, the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 2–0, while Canada defeated the United States 6–5. Slovakia won the bronze medal game against the United States, to extend their record of winning a medal in every edition of the championship. In the final the Czech Republic scored the only goal of the first period after 5 minutes. They scored twice more in the second period, either side of a Canada goal, for a 3–1 scoreline. A goalless final period confirmed their eighth medal in the world championship and third gold. Further down the rankings, Finland beat Germany 4–3 for 7th place, while Austria defeated Switzerland in overtime for 9th place. === Play off === === Match for 9th place === === Match for 7th place === === Quarterfinals === === Semifinals === === Bronze medal game === === Final === == Pool B == Pool B was also held in Bratislava. Two groups of four teams played a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group advanced to the semifinals. Winners of the semifinals, France and Pakistan, each secured progress to the 2013 Ball Hockey World Championship. Pakistan defeated France in the Pool B final 6–5 in overtime. === Group A === === Group B === === Match for 7th place (Pool B) === === Match for 5th place (Pool B) === === Semifinals === === Match for 3rd place (Pool B) === === Final (Pool B) === === Final standings === == References ==