A tricky opening contest against the hosts is perhaps not what reigning champions Sweden would have wanted but they went about their work in ruthless fashion.

They took a 3-1 lead into the second quarter before Rasmus Sundstedt doubled his tally early in the second to extend Sweden's lead.

Further Swedish goals followed before Latvia kept them largely at bay in the dying moments, keeping the scoreline at 6-2.

On a busy opening day of action, Finland were in scintillating form in their opening match of the competition in Group A as they controlled their game with Germany throughout to win 12-1.

Elsewhere in their group, Switzerland overcame Estonia 8-4.

The opening exchanges of the first match in Group A mirrored a training exercise with the Czech Republic focusing fully on attack while their Norwegian opponents were more than happy to soak up the pressure in a defensive fashion.

Unable to match the attacking prowess of their opponents, Norway found themselves 5-0 down midway through the second period, forcing them to change their game plan.

The Czechs refused to give up their lead and went on to extend their dominance in the third and final period, winning the game 8-4.

The United States also got their campaign off to a successful start as they narrowly overcame Thailand 5-4.

The Americans led 2-0 after the opening period but their Asian rivals battled back to keep themselves in contention at 4-3 after the second.

Early in the final stage of the contest, Thailand took a shock lead but, in the dying embers of the match, the Americans stole the victory with a winning goal 78 seconds remaining.

In Group C, Denmark thumped Australia 8-1 to get their campaign off to the best possible start.

The Danes started brightly and Jannik Wede's shot from long distance game them an early lead.

The Scandinavians added another two goals before Australia were forced to make a goalkeeper substitution.

In the early stages of the second period, Australia pulled a goal back before Denmark added a further four to their tally.

Andreas Glad Pedersen hit a hat trick as Denmark added a further score in the third period to claim an emphatic 8-1 victory.

In the penultimate match of the opening day, Canada claimed victory in a tight contest with Singapore.

The Canadians created very few chances before Brandon Barber managed to score the opening goal with an incredible finish.

The second period continued in the same vein, with neither side creating any significant opportunities.

It was a mistake by the Singaporean goalkeeper that provided Canada with their second score before Syazni Ramlee missed an opportunity to get the Asian country back in the match after he missed a clear cut chance.

Spread across two venues, the Arena Riga and Olympic Sports Centre Elektrum, tomorrow's second day of competition is once due to feature a busy schedule of seven pool stage matches.

Select matches from the tournament will be shown on the Olympic Channel.

In all, 33 hours of competition - including the final - will be streamed after the International Floorball Federation and the Channel penned a cooperation agreement last month.

Sweden have won the gold medal of this tournament on nine occasions, while Finland are the only other winners of the competition.

Aside from those two countries, only the Czech Republic and Switzerland have ever reached the final.