IKF EKC R1 West & East 2016: Day 1 review & results

The first match day in Saint Etienne, France, for IKF European Korfball Championship 2016 Round 1 West (IKF EKC 2016 R1W) started with a straight victory of Catalonia over Ireland, 18 – 4. The whole match the young Catalonian team with just a few “old” faces showed they are eager to win this first.

Before the start of the first match the organisation was faced with the consequences of strikes. Two referees were not able to come to Saint Etienne at the last moment. The strikes caused problems for some teams, but fortunately all teams are present in Saint Etienne.

The second match between the real home team, France, and Wales was an intense match. At the end the France squad captured the victory , 14 – 10.
Sweden is back at the korfball front, but in their match against Turkey the difference in quality and experience was quite big and made for a loss with 6-17

The most interesting match was the one between the two so-called Gaelic countries Wales and Ireland. It was an intense match inside and outside the field. Long time it looked this would be the first Golden Goal match in this event, but in the last minute Ruth Campbell made a clever “turn around” goal. In the last attack Wales was not able to make it equal (11-12)

After the Opening Ceremony (with a lot of young children entering the field together with the players of all participating countries) the over 400 people on the tribune saw France battle for the best against Turkey. Almost the whole the score was very close, but before halftime the Turkish team made a decisive difference. At the end there was a final score of 10-15 on the scoreboard.
In the last match Catalonia showed their supremacy with a score of 25 – 6 0ver Sweden.

Day 1 results in IKF EKC R1 West & East 2016

From Friday 3 until Sunday 5 June 2016, all participant teams are fighting to be the numbers 1 and 2 of their EKCR1 tournaments, which classifies for the IKF EKC 2016 that will take place from 22 to 30 October 2016 in the Netherlands.

All games are being played in Saint Etienne (France) and Nitra (Slovakia). And they can be watched in live streaming in the followings links inside www.worldkorfball.org IKF’s website:
R.West (St. Etienne): goo.gl/Q7A777
R.East (Nitra): goo.gl/VKrE2v

Enjoy these two amazing tournaments through the internet on our live streaming links and visiting our social media profiles:

• www.worldkorfball.org
• www.facebook.com/korfball.org
• www.twitter.com/korfball

Official Facebook Events Page of the two tournaments:
R. EAST (Nitra – SVK): https://goo.gl/SMEzG2
R. WEST (Saint-Étienne – FRA): https://goo.gl/YDpZBn

Day 2 (Saturday): Games schedule

Images from Day 1 (By Marco Spelten: facebook.com/actiefotografieNL)

Images from Day 1 in Nitra: By www.facebook.com/sport.nitra (goo.gl/xMW0Vh)