IKF World Korfball Champion 2019: The Netherlands!

The IKF World Korfball Championship 2019 has its champion: The Netherlands! After ten days of action and 69 games, the final brought the latest episode of international korfball’s longest running rivalry. As usual The Netherlands started as favourites in front of a large and boisterous crowd, supplemented by the players in the other 18 teams, who wanted to witness the sport’s pinnacle international spectacle, many of whom had already started their post tournament celebrations. For TeamNL, Celeste Split and Marolijn Kroon were full of attacking purpose, while goals from Belgium’s Saar Seys kept her team in touch. However, the most spectacular moment was the final play of the quarter, when Jari Hardies made and Lars Courtens ‘scored,’ which unfortunately for Belgium, failed to beat the buzzer. At quarter time the score was 4-9. In the second quarter The Netherlands continued to go about their work, their female players continuing to lead the scoring, though Jessica Lokhurst entered the game to slow down Seys, who was the Diamonds’ most potent attacking force. At half time the score was 10-20. Belgium kept pace in the third quarter, matching the energy and speed of their rivals, and after 26 minutes Wim Scholtmeyer introduced three players off the bench, one of whom, Harjan Visscher, scored an excellent long shot with almost his first touch of the ball. At three quarter time the score was 14-25. As the game proceeded to its conclusion, TeamNL started to increase the style, with some champagne korfball, including a great goal made for Visscher by Olaf Van Wijngaarden. Split left the game to great appreciation from her team mates and the rest of the fans after scoring seven, probably this final’s dominant player. The Netherlands take gold, yet again. Final score: 18-31.

Podium gallery

By Marco Spelten: actionphotography.nl – korfbalfoto.nl

Time	For places	Teams	Result	Video/Stats
16:00	1/2 – Final	BEL – NED	18-31	📺 / 📊

Bronze medal game review

Time	For places	Teams	Result	Video/Stats
14:15	3/4 – Bronze	TPE – CHN	25-16	📺 / 📊

This is the first time two Asian teams have a met in a medal game at an IKF WKC. Both teams started with sharp intent and productive attacks, sharing goals evenly for the first few minutes before Chinese Taipei eased to a lead, 8-4 at the end of the first period. Chinese Taipei making the most of the experience, speed and accuracy that their female players bring to the game. Plenty of supporters, for each team, made for a lively atmosphere in the hall. China made up ground at the start of the second quarter, then Chinese Taipei stepped up the intensity another notch to re-gain and then extend their advantage, 13–7 at half time. Shuby Chu and Ya-wen Lin were doing most of the damage for their team, while captain Ricky Wu was also chipping in with some important goals. For China, Xi Wang was impressive. In the third period, despite good goals by Dongjie Zhang and Jammy Zhao, Chinese Taipei managed to keep their distance over their opponent and the lead after 30 minutes was 19-12. In the final quarter, perceiving they had won, Chinese Taipei started to loosen up. Despite leaving the game after 29 minutes, Wu was top scorer in this game, with seven, in what may be his final IKF WKC. Opposing captain Zhao scored four to take her tournament total to 39, which is likely to make her the top individual scorer for the tournament, unless something outrageous happens in the final. Chinese Taipei take bronze. Final score: 25-16.

IKF WKC 2019 Final ranking

Position	Country	Qualified for TWG 2021
1	The Netherlands	Yes
2	Belgium	Yes
3	Chinese Taipei	Yes
4	China	Yes
5	Germany	Yes
6	Suriname	Yes
7	Czech Republic	Yes
8	Portugal	Yes
9	England	–
10	Catalonia	–
11	Poland	–
12	Hungary	–
13	Slovakia	–
14	Australia	–
15	Japan	–
16	Ireland	–
17	Hong Kong China	–
18	New Zealand	–
19	South Africa	–
20	Macau China	–

More information about the tournament

From 1 to 10 August 2019 the IKF World Korfball Championship 2019 took place in the city of Durban, South Africa. Twenty national squads were competing to be the new World Champion in this 11th edition of the most important international korfball tournament.

All the games were live streamed through IKF YouTube channel and on IKF data website www.worldkorfball.sport together with all the results, statistics, top scorers and updated ranking pools.

Official websites of the tournament ► www.korfball.sport ► www.ikfwkc2019.com
Live streaming games, results and statistics on ► www.worldkorfball.sport
IKF WKC History event booklet ► Read .pdf document

This tournament was also a qualifying event for The World Games 2021 that will take place in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, from 15 to 25 July 2021. More info ► www.theworldgames2021.com

Discover more from all participants reading #TheTeamFiles Interviews ► korfball.sport/wkc2019

Follow the #WKC2019 on social media!

You could also follow all the tournament on IKF official channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:
► facebook.com/korfball.org
► twitter.com/korfball
► instagram.com/korfball_org

More info and special content could be found on LOC’s tournament profiles:
► facebook.com/ikfwkc2019
► twitter.com/ikfwkc2019
► instagram.com/ikfwkc2019