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Trip to boost korfball in South America

The first and second video of the trip to boost korfball in South America are on line. You can watch them thru the IKF website: www.korfball.org or via the ikfchannel on YouTube.

The videos are recorded and produced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by Mr Dani Ezpeleta (CAT). Dutch master coach, Mr Jan Sjouke Van den Bos, four Dutch U23 international players, Mr Jorge Alves (POR) and Mr Dani Ezpeleta guide and support this promotion trip. The trip is a combined effort technical and financial from KNKV and IKF.

The trip lasts till 19 October. After the visit to Brazil the group visits Argentina. Right now they are in Argentina already.

Netherlands stars boost Latin America korfball

A two-week tour by a high-powered delegation from Europe, including four Netherlands stars, will give korfball in Latin America a big boost this month.

knkv u23 at airport

Top players from the Dutch national under-23 team are accompanying KNKV’s master coach Jan Sjouke van den Bos, first to Brazil, then to Argentina, on a tour that will combine promotion, coaching and referee clinics and a pan-American international korfball tournament.

Starting in Sao Paulo, the Netherlands stars, Jelmer Jonker, Jet Hendriks, Barbara Brouwer, Marijn Van De Goorbergh and their coach, will conduct clinics in schools and universities, as well as providing training support for the regular teams located in the city of Americana.

Next they travel to Rio de Janeiro, where coach advisor Dick Kalkman of The Netherlands and referee Dani Ezpeleta from Catalonia join them. On 11 October they will be part of the National Brazilian Korfball Championship, before heading to Copacabana the next day for a beach korfball promotion on one of the world’s most famous beaches.

Leaving Brazil, they go to first Buenos Aires then La Plata in Argentina for another series of promotional activities in schools and universities, conducting clinics for physical education teachers and training with local teams.

Over the weekend of 18 and 19 October, the highlight of the tour will be the Torneo Internacional de Korfball – Argentina 2014, with national teams from Brazil and Colombia joining the host, Argentina, which will participate for the first time ever in an international korfball event.

IKF is grateful for the assistance of KNKV in setting up this tour, and also to IKF instructor and national coach of Brazil, Jorge Alves from Portugal, for co-ordinating activities.

IKF EKC in Portugal on worldkorfball.org

Saturday 25 October 2014 the IKF European Korfball Championship (IKF EKC) starts in Maia, Portugal.

The IKF jury software system is direct connected to Internet again. Everybody can follow the matches live thru the link: IKF EKC 2014 on worldkorfball.org

The korfball app for smartphones is available as well and connected to the same database with all matches live.

All 16 teams prepare themselves to show their abilities and compete on the highest level.

IKF AOKC shows positive steps for Asian korfball

Completed on 23 August in Hong Kong, the 2014 IKF AOKC demonstrated marked progress for Asian korfball.

With ten teams competing, two more than the equivalent tournament four years ago in Zhengzhou, China, the standard of play in Hong Kong reflected strong recent development made in Asian korfball under IKF Asia President Inglish Huang.

Although China dropped one ranking place, to Australia, it is a young team that looks capable of making an impression at the 2015 World Championship. Strong and athletic, with equally dangerous male and female players, epitomised by captain Liang Shuaishuai and Muzi Li, it showed the discipline to impose its will against all other teams, aside from the accomplished Chinese Taipei and steadfast Australia. Following the most common Asian model for korfball development, members of this Chinese team are drawn from three universities: Zhengzhou University, Tianjin University of Science and Technology and the Southwest University in Chongqing municipality.

Most significant mover at this AOKC was Malaysia. Having not played at this level previously, it achieved fifth ranking at this tournament, securing the reserve place for the 2015 World Championship. Malaysia’s korfball, built around national pioneer and president of the Malaysia Korfball Association Chee-Yong Jungle Lim, started in 2007. It has close links to Malaysia’s independent Chinese school system. Most players, including coach Lau Wai Fun, have made the transition from basketball to korfball effectively. They combine determination with shooting accuracy, particularly from ‘clutch’ player Randy Ho Kang Lip, whose blend of physical presence and an excellent eye for the korf made him a constant threat and earned him the honour of the tournament’s fourth highest scorer. After this, Malaysia will certainly improve on its 2013 IKF ranking of 35, having passed four countries that were ranked above it last year, and its future looks bright.

Lower down the rankings Korea matched the place it attained in 2010, though should be a big improver next time around as it looks most able to follow Chinese-Taipei’s successful formula for korfball excellence. Korfball’s establishment in the Seoul National University of Korea, which is one of the most prestigious in the country and has close links with Prof Huang’s own National Taipei University of Education, bodes well. Korea’s international korfballers are current students of the university and graduates who are now working as teachers. Through their efforts, korfball is set for inclusion in the country’s primary school curriculum. Although it competes with basketball and volleyball for the attention of young athletes, the Korea Korfball Federation, which was founded in 2006, has a viable pathway to cultivate a second generation, particularly with the close co-operation of Dr Huang and his university.

Macau’s korfball is also university-centred. In this instance the University of Macau, which has a brand new campus with some excellent facilities that look set to significantly boost the potential of korfball in China’s second Special Administrative Region.

Alone among IKF Asia members, Japan is currently the only country mainly relying on the club system for domestic development and education. In recent years Japan Korfball Association’s key leader Yoshimitsu Tobisa, known throughout korfball as Tobi, has established new clubs in Nagoya and Nagasaki. In November this year Japan’s inaugural national korfball championship will be held, with foremost Asian referee Ivan Lee of Hong Kong conducting a pre-tournament refereeing workshop.

Also welcomed back to an AOKC for the first time since 1994 was the nation with the longest korfball history outside The Netherlands and Belgium: Indonesia, where korfball was first played in the 1920s. This, however, is a new start with a young team, under Adelaida Koraag, who played in the team during its previous era. Although finishing last in Hong Kong, the gap between Indonesia and the next ranked teams was not great, and with recent problems the federation has suffered now apparently resolved, there is cause for optimism.

Apart from the eight teams that played in Hong Kong, alongside IKF Oceania’s Australia and New Zealand, IKF Asia has six other members: India, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Singapore. Looking forward to 2018, when the next IKF AOKC will be staged, it is reasonable to expect that at least three of these will join the tournament. This is likely to include newcomers the Philippines, where solid foundations have been laid at the University of Santo Tomas, Asia’s oldest university, which dates back to 1611. Also probably ready to step up in four years will be Singapore, where korfball was dormant for several years until business consultant Derek Ang stumbled across the sport on Google, and was so intrigued that he decided to properly establish korfball in his country. Although it is still early days, he has made good progress with promotion into schools, including sending a number of coaches to a recent clinic in Malaysia. It seems likely that, with continued support from its neighbours, Singapore’s korfball community will grow and progress sufficient to send a team to the 2018 IKF AOKC. By that time korfballers from Vietnam and Sri Lanka might also be ready to join the party.

All of which strengthens the case for korfball’s recognition by the Olympic Council of Asia, which Prof Huang has been working on for a number of years. This recognition would enable entry by the sport into the Asian Games, and various other cyclical multi-sport events staged throughout the continent. A decision on this is expected before the end of 2014, and would mark another significant step for international korfball.

IKF AOKC 2014 final order of teams (with 2010 positions in brackets): 1 (1) Chinese Taipei, 2 (3) Australia, 3 (2) China, 4 (4) Hong Kong, 5 (-) Malaysia, 6 (6) New Zealand, 7 (7) Korea, 8 (-) Macau, 9 (-) Japan, 10 (-) Indonesia.

In 2010 India finished fifth and Pakistan finished eighth, neither participated in 2014, while Malaysia, Macau, Japan and Indonesia participated in 2014, though not in 2010.

IKF European Korfball Championship

The IKF published the four pools of four national teams each and the match schedule for the IKF European Korfball Championship scheduled to be held in Maia, Portugal, from 25 October to 2 November 2014.

Sixteen countries are participating and have been drawn into four pools of four. Unlike in previous championships, in order to try and prevent matches with a predictable result and large goal difference in the early round the selection of teams for the pools has been done in a different way on this occasion. Pools A and B have pools containing the highest ranked countries and pools C and D the lowest ranked countries. Countries ranked 1, 2 or 3 in pools A and B progress to the quarter finals for places 1 to 8 together with the countries finishing first in pools C and D. The remaining countries (4th in pools A and B plus 2nd, 3rd or 4th in pools C and D) will play quarter finals leading to a ranking of 9th to 16th.

Details on the pools and the match schedule follow the link: IKF EKC Pools and match schedule

 

IKF AOKC live video coverage

Host of the IKF AOKC the Hong Kong China Korfball Association provides live video coverage of the tournament in Hongkong. Thru worldkorfball.org all matches can be seen live.

IKF AOKC Day Two – six games start to sort out groups

On Day Two of the 2014 IKF AOKC, with a further six games completed, the two groups are beginning to sort themselves out.

Malaysia achieved a second comfortable win of the tournament in the day’s first game, taking advantage of Indonesia’s inexperience to ease to a 12-5 win. By beating first Macau and now Indonesia, Malaysia has given itself an excellent opportunity to justify its third seeding in group B, suggesting that, unless a freak result occurs in the next two days, it will still be in contention for a medal after all group games are completed. Indonesia, on the other hand, which has the lowest ranking of all teams here, will need to learn from the lessons of its first two games and look to make improvements for the future.

Game two saw another close fought, low scoring Group A contest, as Japan, which held a two goal lead for a period of the first half, succumbed to Korea’s dominance in the rebound to fall to a second loss, 9-7.

Game three, between the teams ranked two and three, produced the best korfball of the tournament so far, Australia prevailing over Group B rival China after a full-blooded tussle. China reined in the aggression they displayed yesterday, at least slightly, and held the lead for much of the first half, benefiting from some inattentive defence by Australia, which conceded seven penalties in the half, all scored. The Skippies found some rhythm in the final minutes of the half, though, which continued in the first few minutes of the second half, as they scored seven goals unanswered to take control. Craig Miller was particularly effective. A spectacular Ashlee Othen goal, converting a running in shot from an intercept, was decisive leaving China an insurmountable five goal deficit with ten minutes to play. Final score: 20-14.

When the top two seeds in Group A met in the following game, the outcome contrasted significantly to the Australia-China match. Making it first appearance at this tournament, defending IKF Asia Oceania korfball champion Chinese-Taipei accounted for host Hong Kong with effortless ease, displaying their dynamism, speed and shooting prowess. Superstar Ricky Wu scored six in the first half as his team demonstrated its superiority for an 18-5 half time lead. His show ceased soon after when he was one of a rash of substitutions made by the respective coaches. Scoring was more sedate after that, and although Hong Kong achieved parity with five second goals apeice, the result was a foregone conclusion: 23-10 to Chinese Taipei.

Superior shooting by Macau produced a win over Indonesia, playing its second match of the day, which nevertheless was its strongest performance of the tournament so far. Ka U Chao scoring seven for Macau.

In the final game, for the second day in succession, New Zealand again struggled to overcome a lower ranked opponent, though ultimately produced a more convincing performance to beat Korea, thanks in large part to Rosa Cooper. Introduced to the game just before half time, her shooting accuracy countered the Korean’s strong rebounding and her five second half goals proved the difference as New Zealand prevailed by 11-5. Like Malaysia, New Zealand has assured it will remain in medal contention beyond the group games.

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IKF AOKC Day One – games go according to rankings

Day One of the IKF AOKC ended in four wins for the higher ranked teams, though some of the nations in the earlier stages of their development showed they could spring a surprise before the end of the week.

New Zealand v Japan

In the first game of the tournament, Korea provided spirited opposition to the host team, at least initially. Going to half time 9-4 behind, Korea stayed within touching distance for most of the match, although inaccurate shooting let them down. In the last few minutes, after a number of substitutions, Hong Kong expanded its winning margin to a more comfortable 17-6.

Game Two, in Pool B, was dominated by China, which brought a robust style of korfball to the tournament that was too much for the gallant but inexperienced Indonesia team. China won with ease: 25-4, captain Liang Shuaishuai leading the way with six. A number of breaks in the game, for injuries and at one stage a bent korf, meant that, with real playing time the game over-ran the schedule by about 20 minutes.

Malaysia and Macau met in the third game, also in Pool B, with both continuing the level of physicality that China had exhibited in the previous game, playing with strong determination to win. Although Malaysia edged in front, Macau stayed in touch, benefiting from the recent joint training sessions that they had prior to the tournament with Australia. In the end, in the final quarter of the game, Malaysia pulled away to a 15-8 win, Wan Li Ker scoring five and Randy Ho Kang Lip scoring four.

In the final game, Japan gave New Zealand a much tougher battle than the IKF rankings would indicate, staying level until the final minute of the first half, when the Kiwis finally pulled ahead by two, and matching them again goal for goal in a low scoring second half for a final score of 11-9. Sho Furuki stood out for Japan, scoring five.

Champion Chinese Taipei will be tough to beat at IKF AOKC

Asia-Oceania champion Chinese Taipei has arrived in Hong Kong with an experienced and well-prepared squad determined to defend its title at the IKF AOKC.

chinese taipei 2014

In camp at home for the past 11 days, the squad includes Ricky Wu, aptly nick-named the ‘Asian Sensation’ during his years in the Korfball League in the Netherlands. Along with nine of his colleagues in the present IKF AOKC 2014 squad, Ricky won a bronze medal at the 2013 World Games, or at the 2011 IKF World Championship, or both. Members of this ‘golden generation’ of Chinese Taipei korfball have been playing the sport for an average of around eight years.

Residents of Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan county and Nantou county, the final squad of 16 was named in July following a process that began in October last year when an initial selection of 22 players was named after two national tournaments in October.

Most of the Chinese Taipei national team players were originally recruited to school korfball teams when they were studying in primary or junior high schools. Most are now university students, although some are primary or high school teachers.

Korea looks for progress at IKF AOKC

Participating at this year’s IKF Asia Oceania Korfball Championship (IKF AOKC) gives the Korea Korfball Federation (KKF) great impetus for further development of the sport.

Korea team for IKF AOKC 2014

Korea finished sixth at last October’s Asia Korfball Championships in Tianjin, China, and currently sits at 31 in the IKF rankings.

Taking the three-hour flight from Seoul to Hong Kong for the ninth IKF Asia Oceania Korfball Championship, this will be Korea’s second time at the tournament after finishing seventh four years ago.

Since starting their preparation in March, squad members have trained once or twice a week.

Members of Korea’s squad come from diverse backgrounds, including in their number teachers, students and soldiers. One of the latter had to ask for special permission to exempt himself from a joint training exercise between the armies of the United States and Korea in order to travel with the squad to Hong Kong.

Most of Korea’s players started korfball as students of Seoul National University of Korea, when the sport was introduced by their sister university, National Taiwan University of Education, in 2005, with the most experienced of Korea’s international players starting korfball in earnest in 2006.

This squad is an important step in the development of Korean korfball, with a number of the players either trainee teachers or recent graduates who have started their teaching careers. As in various other countries, this makes them ideally placed to spread korfball and build its popularity through schools and universities, which they are in the process of doing, bringing increasing numbers of younger people into the sport through school korfball clubs and tournaments.

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