IKF Asia to organize first Asian U19 and U17 Championship

Representatives from the Asian countries met today in Hong Kong to discuss the rapid development of Korfbal on the continent. Asia will organize its first korfball4 championship in Indonesia later this year for U19 and U17, while the Asia-Oceania U23 Championship will be hosted in Taiwan next year.

IKF Asia President Inglish Ying-Che Huang presided over the meeting with 8 out of the current 15 countries on the continent present, and representatives from Oceania attending as invitees.

In addition to the current emphasis on national team development, the countries in Asia committed to devoting more attention in developing the size of the player base. IKF Asia will also take more initiative in the development of the number and level of referees.

The growth of the number of countries increasingly put pressure on the format of the major competitions, as up to 16 teams could be expected at the next edition of the Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship in 2018, and the competition format and length of the tournament can be affected beyond the financial capabilities of the countries. It was agreed that the IKF Asia competitions committee will propose a set of competition formats with various numbers of participating teams.

With regard to the event calendar, it was announced that IKF Asia is in negotiation with the Indonesia Korfball Association PKSI regarding the hosting of the the 1st IKF U19 & U17 Asia Korfball Championship in Bandung (Indonesia) in December 2014. This will be a world’s first; IKF Europe has decided to also start organizing official championships in this age category, but has not yet designated any year or host. The event in Indonesia is envisioned to have both a 1-zone championship and a korfball4 championship for each of the age categories, so four titles will be awarded.

Further, the meeting confirmed Hsinchu (TPE) as the host for the IKF Asian-Oceanian U23 Korfball Championship from 25 July – 2 August 2015, pending a final decision by the IKF Asia Exco. The meeting also called for bids for upcoming championships in Asia, including biannual U17 and U19 championships, biannual university championships, and the quadrennial U21 and senior championships.

President Huang was finally happy tot announce that the Philippines Korfball Federation has applied for IKF membership and will be accepted in IKF Asia