IKF WKC 2019 Day 6: Updated reviews, images & videos

After we found out who will contest the top eight yesterday today’s quarter final games at KwaZulu Natal University’s Westville Campus should see some intriguing korfball. China against Portugal starts the quarter final programme. Both are in good form, neither has yet been beaten at this tournament and the prevailing question is well China’s sharp shooting game meet its match in the stifling defence that Portugal used to such excellent effect against Germany or will China find the time and space they need? Chinese Taipei meets Suriname in the second quarter final. Asia versus America. Chinese Taipei has not yet been seriously tested, whereas Suriname has already played some tough games. Is this one step too far for them, or can they use their momentum to upset the world number two?

Two all-European contests round out the top eight quarter-finals. Belgium versus the Czech Republic and the Netherlands versus Germany. Although the Czechs have had a solid tournament so far, and will probably provide the Diamonds with their sternest test yet, history would have to favour Belgium, who, nonetheless will need to win this to reclaim some of the air of invincibility they had until 2017. The Netherlands versus Germany is a repeat of last years EKC final. Germany has not had great form so far at this tournament so they do know how to play TeamNL, and with a rest day tomorrow will give it everything.

Hall Two, in the Globe on the beach, sees the battle for places nine to 16. One obvious stand out will be Ireland versus Poland: a rematch of the nail biting game with the spectacular final second winner from Saturday.

At the start of the day in the contest for the minor places, New Zealand and Hong Kong will be looking to maintain the winning form they found yesterday, well South Africa and Macau are still both in search of their first victory.

Pool for 17th-20th place:
Round Robin between HKG -MAC – RSA – NZL

Pool for 9th-16th place:
IRL – POL – SVK – CAT – JPN – ENG – HUN – AUS

Pool for 1st-8th place:
CHN – POR – TPE – SUR – BEL – CZE – NED – GER

These are the games scheduled to be played on Tuesday, 6 August 2019 (Day 6):

*(Venues) Hall 1: ‘University’ – Hall 2: ‘The Globe’
Hall 1: KZN Westville Campus Indoor Sports Centre – Hall 2: ‘The Globe’ at Suncoast Boulevard Marine Parade

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

All the games are 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.

In this post you will find a daily updated recap with all IKF press reviews, results, best images and videos from all games played during this day.

– Day 1 press reviews ► www.korfball.sport/ikfwkc2019-day1-review
– Day 2 press reviews ► www.korfball.sport/ikfwkc2019-day2-review
– Day 3 press reviews ► www.korfball.sport/ikfwkc2019-day3-review
– Day 4 Rest day
– Day 5 press reviews ► www.korfball.sport/ikfwkc2019-day5-review

Day 6 reviews, results, rankings & videos:

After winning their game yesterday, Hong Kong faced neighbour Macau today in the pool to determine the minor places. Sitting at number 11 in the 2018 IKF rankings, Hong Kong is likely to drop from that position after this tournament, and will be strongly motivated to finish 17th, so a win today was important to them. Macau made a confident start, initially taking the lead, though by the end of the first quarter their Asian rival had reversed that by 4–3. Hong Kong’s greater experience and technical understanding gave them the impetus in the second quarter and enabled them to effectively subdue the Macau attack. By half time the Hong Kong lead was 9–4. This was less of a spectacle than yesterday’s Asian duel, when Chinese Taipei and Japan shared 64 goals with no penalties and no free passes. In this game, for Hong Kong Ka Chun Ma top scored with six, and for Macau Ka U Chao scored four. By the end Hong Kong were satisfied with a job well done while Macau are still in search of their first victory. Final score: 19–7.

South Africa sits one place ahead of New Zealand in the 2018 IKF rankings, in 15th and 16th respectively. This was the first meeting of the two Commonwealth countries in korfball, though the two have some long rivalries and deep connections in several other sports. From the beginning, New Zealand looked comfortable with Simon Cooper and Sam Bennetts combining well and drawing penalties from the South African defenders, which gave New Zealand a lead at the end of the first quarter by 1–4. That momentum continued in the second quarter with New Zealand extending the lead to 5–11. In the third quarter South Africa staged a recovery, ending the period with three unanswered goals as New Zealand coach Manon Wiegerink tested some combinations, which took some time to settle. New Zealand Captain Bevan Lawson was well rewarded for his efforts with an eight goal personal tally, while for South Africa Aneka Fick was top scorer with four. Final score: 13–21.

Two teams as yet unbeaten at this tournament met in the first quarter-final, as Portugal’s smothering defence set up against China’s dynamic sharp shooting game. Portugal took an early lead before China found their range with two smart goals by Xi Wang, who was intent on imposing his style on the contest. Portugal, however kept in touch and at the end of the first quarter the scores were level 7–7, Isabel Almeida keeping her team in the contest with some well taken goals. As the second quarter progressed, China threatened to ease clear, achieving a two goal advantage for the first time with 50 seconds left in the half, before Xin Li cooly converted a free pass with six seconds remaining to increase the lead to 15–12. Into the second half and an excellent duel between Pedro Correia and Dongjie Zhang continued with the former looking to have a slight edge. However, on 31 minutes Zhang scored an excellent and potentially crucial goal from the back of the court to take the Chinese lead back to three, followed shortly afterwards by a successful penalty. Although Portugal was not out of this absorbing game, China had the advantage and did what was necessary to make time their friend, ultimately winning the game and making history by achieving a place in an IKF WKC semi final for the first time ever. On the other hand, after their historic bronze medal over Belgium 10 months ago at the EKC, Portugal’s campaign will now focus on achieving fifth place in this tournament. Final score: 25-21

Ireland versus Poland in a nine to 16 quarter final, repeating the encounter between the two teams that ended so dramatically in Pool B on Saturday, when Poland overhauled Ireland to score in the final second, after trailing for the whole of the match. Ireland has a reputation for losing games from a winning position and was desperately keen to correct that record. Poland began well, taking and holding a lead that they never achieved until the final second in the match on Saturday. Tamara Siemieniuk and James Norman kept the score ticking over for their respective teams in a very even half, Poland holding held the slightest advantage at half time 7–8. Scoring was even through the third quarter, until a tidy Kamil Musialinski free pass late in the period brought the advantage for Poland to three: 9–12. Poland remained in control and retained the lead through the final quarter, although it was never comfortable. At the end Ireland remained without a win in this tournament, benefiting from the relative weakness of Pool B, where all four teams made the top sixteen, though three lost yesterday. Poland will now fight for place nine, while Ireland will be in the battle for place 13. Final score: 12 – 16.

Chinese Taipei met Suriname in the second quarter final, the respective champions of Asia and America. Suriname seemed likely to pose Chinese Taipei their first serious test at the IKF WKC, and by the end of the first quarter that was evident as the scores were level at 5–5. In the second-quarter a series of excellent goals by stars Ya Wen Lin and Ricky Wu put Chinese Taipei ahead. As the game progressed, two titans of the Korfbal League, Gerald van Dijk and Ricky Wu playing at opposite ends, traded goals, with the latter more successful, accounting for his team’s five goal lead at half time 13–8. Chinese Taipei changed their tempo in the third quarter, slowing down their usual fluid style. It nearly undid their tournament as Suriname was able to reduce the lead to two. When van Dijk missed first a penalty then a free pass, while Wu brought up to goals at the other end to bring his team’s lead back to four, it appeared that the Suriname resistance was finally overcome. Several injury breaks late in the game did not work to break the concentration of the Chinese Taipei team and the chance of Suriname winning a medal had gone. Final score: 20-18.

Catalonia assumed a lead early, which by quarter time was extended to four for a score of 3-7. Having been inconsistent so far this tournament, Catalonia was able to build on their spirited performance yesterday against Portugal to make this an easy victory. Miguel Gil Maeso scored regularly, while the Catalan defence largely bottled up Slovakia’s major scoring threat so far in the tournament, Peter Busik. Catalonia’s second half in particular, where they scored freely, will encourage them and may produce some momentum to take into their next game as they chase the ninth ranking at the tournament, initially with a game against Poland, following the latter’s win earlier this afternoon over Ireland. Final score: 8-25.

After some erratic performances so far in the tournament, and obvious disappointment to not be contesting the medals after consistently finishing higher in the previous versions of the IKF WKC, England came into this match determined to put a strong case for the ninth ranking, which is now the best they can achieve. After their high scoring encounter with Chinese Taipei yesterday, Japan started well, keeping England in touch at half time by 4–9. As the second half proceeded, however, they ran out of ran out off energy, which coincided with some important substitutions for England of players who coach Rob Williams had rested for the first half. From that point England’s scoring advanced more rapidly and they quickly ran away from Japan. England’s goals were well shared. Final score: 6-25.

Czech Republic scored first and demonstrated plenty of purpose. Belgium absorbed all that was thrown at them, however, establishing a 5-1 lead after eight minutes, when a power failure caused problems with the lighting, which delayed the game. By half time the score was 12-4 and the chances of the Czech Republic staging a fight back were slim. Those slim hopes disappeared to nothing in the third quarter, as Belgium eased through to the final four. For the victors, Julie Caldwell, Jarre de Ley and Jonas Lemmens were prominent on the scoresheet. While Belgium has set up a much anticipated rematch with Chinese Taipei, the Czech Republic will fight for fifth place, initially against Suriname. Final score: 27-10.

EKC silver medallist Germany’s Pool E loss to Portugal set them up for this daunting clash with the defending world champion. An 11-1 scoreline after 15 minutes removed any tension from the contest, with Germany unable to match their performance of 10 months ago when they challenged The Netherlands in the final of the EKC. Marjolijn Kroon scored five goals in the first half. Coach Wim Scholtmeyer went to his bench with just under 10 minutes remaining, bringing on five substitutes. Mick Snel scored five and Nick Pikaar four to Kroon’s six. The Netherlands confirmed their place in the semi-final against China while Germany will contest places five to eight, initially with a rematch against Portugal. Final score: 25-9.

These two teams feature several sets of siblings, with the Bellusz and Berenyi families contributing members to Hunagry’s squad and the Hutchesson and Bungey families featuring for Australia. Hungary was aiming for a top eight finish in this tournament, so was disappointed to be playing today for nothing higher than place number nine. After the first quarter Hungary had the advantage 6–4. After the second quarter that lead had increased to 11–5, and by the end of the third, the contest was effectively done, with the score at 18–9. Zsolt Majer and Balazs Berenyi top scored for Hungary with four goals each. They and their teammates go on to meet England in the contest for places nine to 12, while Australia will play Japan in the 13 to 16 bracket. Final score: 22-15.

Referees & jurys daily apointments

Click here to see the appointments.

More information about the tournament

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 is 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 can 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 can be found on LOC’s tournament profiles:
► facebook.com/ikfwkc2019
► twitter.com/ikfwkc2019
► instagram.com/ikfwkc2019

Day 6 Image gallery

By Marco Spelten: actionphotography.nl – korfbalfoto.nl