The Netherlands retain the IKF U23 World Korfball Championship
The Netherlands comfortably retained their under 23 crown with a victory over arch rivals Belgium. In the first half the Dutch gradually built what proved to be an unassailable lead, being five goals up midway through the half and ten goals by half time (16 – 6). Scoring slowed down at the start of the second period with only eight goals scored altogether in the opening 15 minutes but, as the Dutch started to bring in some of their substitute players, Belgium started to match them and the last 15 minutes was a lot closer. However, the damage had been done in the first half and the final score of 30 – 15 was seven better than in the European event held in 2011 and the largest win by The Netherlands in an IKF U23 WKC final. The final was refereed by Tamas Elekes (HUN), the first time that a referee from outside of the top ranked countries has been awarded the final, an excellent achievement.
In the bronze medal match Chinese Taipei basically laid the groundwork for winning the bronze medal by opening a six goal lead by half time against Germany (15 – 9). In the second half the Germans capitalised on the tiring Chinese Taipei team (having had several hard victories by only one or two gaols earlier in the week) and tied the half at nine goals each, but this left Chinese Taipei winners of the bronze medal by a 24 – 18 scoreline.
The battle for 5th place between hosts Catalonia nd England was again marked by England’s defence subduing the opposition but being unable to score very much themselves. England won the first half 6 – 4 and Catalonia won the second half 6 – 5, to leave England in 5th place with an 11 – 10 victory, by far the lowest overall score of the whole event.
In the tournament as a whole 1813 goals were scored at an average of just over 43 goals per game. The top male scorers were Kwok Kuen HAM (HKG) with 42, Shuaishuai Liang (CHN) with 36 and Aditya Nandal (IND) with 34. The top female scorers were Szu-Yu Lin (TPE) with 29, Shu-Ping Chu (TPE with 28 and Celeste Split (NED) with 25. 169 different players scored at least one goal in the event
