Glenelg Korfball Club

A very disappointing end of tournament for Australia against Great
Britain. A slow start, missed penalties, short shots and run-ins and
lack of fitness turned what ought to have been a tight match into a romp
for the British.. At half time, the Australians had managed to recover
from a shocking 2-9 start to be only 3 goals down (8-11) and back in the
hunt for a win. But the British were able to extend the lead to 6 in the
opening minutes of the second half and retain that 6 goal lead until the
50th minute (14-20).. But the Australians were tiring and the last 10
minutes saw an almost unbelievable 16 goals scored!
Final score was 18-31, the highest tally for the tournament and making
the British the only non Dutch team to score 30+ goals in a match..

Other finals were less dispiriting. Czech Republic fought back against
Portugal to level the scores in the final seconds of regular time
through a Penalty shot. Taking the match to their second Golden Goal
decider. Clearly the Czech team has a game plan for Golden Goal as they
managed to score quickly to seal the win and claim 5th place.

Chinese Taipei played Russia for 3rd place and once again it was a
tightly fought contest. The Taiwanese team in front of a sold out
stadium and 16 TV cameras broadcasting to local TV overtook the Russians
after 18 minutes and took a 5 goal lead into half time 10-15. In the
second half, 2 Russian substitutions did nothing to assist them, instead
allowing the Taiwanese to break open the match with a 5 goal spurt.. The
Taiwanese taking Bronze 18-25.

Neither the Dutch or Belgians had been troubled by opponents in the Pool
or Crossover matches. The Belgians had surprised many with the manner in
which they'd dispatched the Taiwanese and Russians but now had to prove
themselves against the true measuring stick, the Dutch.. Over the past
few years, the Dutch have made a mockery of their fiercest rival so it
was to some (pleasant) surprise that at half time, the Belgians were
still in the game, only 3 goals down 13-10.. It took until the 40th
minute for the Dutch to open the distance between the teams and hold the
gain and at the 52nd minute with an 8 goal advantage, the match was all
but over. The Belgians did themselves proud to fight back to reduce the
margin to only 5. The Dutch (as expected) taking the Gold 25-20

Overall, placings in the tournament were to expectations. Perhaps the
only surprise being that Chinese Taipei did not challenge the Belgians,
but clearly the Belgians have improved and are somewhat of a challenger
to the Dutch. Whether the introduction of the Shot-Clock has had an
impact on the results will be seen in future tournaments. Certainly, the
scores across the tournament are higher than they have recently been
demonstrating that the rule has improved the spectacle which was its
primary aim. Crowd numbers and the inclusion of Korfball on EuroSport 2
TV throughout Europe is also another small stepping stone to improving
the footprint of our sport. So overall a successful tournament for the
IKF, if not Australian Korfball .