Glenelg Korfball Club

Well, some exciting first halves by the Australian team shook the confidence of both Czech and Russia, but both managed to recompose themselves in the second halves of their matches to easily overcome the Australians. Poor shooting accuracy was the difference between the teams.

CZE-AUS
In the first match of the tournament, one which I predicted could be a surprise win for Australia, our team got off to a poor start. 9-4 down after 22 minutes, it was not the ideal start necessary for demoralising an opponent! To their credit however, the Australians slotted 5 of the next 6 goals to go into half time a very competitive 10-9 down.

After half time however, the Czech team used their distinct height advantage to control the rebound at both ends of the court. The shots were still coming from the Australians but they weren't falling through the basket..
At the 55th minute with a 20-12, the Czechs relaxed and the Australians managed to catch up and finish a respectable 21-16. Dennis Giles top scored with 7 goals (including 3 penalties and another missed).

RUS-AUS
Another slow start saw Australia behind the Russians and taking a time-out after 16 minutes down 6-2.. But for 2 successive missed Penalties in the 18th minute, the Australians would have been down by one goal again at half time. As it happened though, the team went into the half with a 3 goal deficit, 9-6.
The Australians caught up early in the second half, bringing the score to 9-8. The Russians broke the charge however, putting on 4 unanswered goals, then another 3 to expand their lead to 16-9 at the 50th minute.
The game ran out 18-12. Top Scorers were Luke (3), Megan (2) and Dusty (5, including 4 Penalties).

Who knows what the effect of those 2 missed penalty opportunities might have had? But missed shots again were the Australian's downfall.

(Hamo star's in this KOC photo from the match demionstrating his "jumping capability" against the taller Russian opponents
and an IKF Slideshow of all the day's matches including some Australians is here)

NED-AUS
Some thought this match was a foregone conclusion.. But after 9 minutes, a newcomer might have thought otherwise, Australia 0-1 up and having missed a penalty to boot!!
In the 10th minute, the Dutch finally remembered they were supposed to put the ball through the Yellow thing and levelled.. The first goal sparked the team and they shared the scoring to be 5-1 with 5 different goal scorers 5 minutes later! At 22 minutes, the scoreline looked more like what was earlier expected, 10-2 and the entire Dutch team on the scoreboard at least once..
At half time, the Dutch were up 12-3 but were forced to run lines as punishment for scoring less than 15 goals against a team the coach clearly had no respect for.. Uncharacteristically for a Dutch team, the second half was more intensive than the first (usually they're so far in front they relax in the second and allow the underdog to "catch-up"). This time, they pulled out to a 25-4 lead at the 47th minute, then took off the pressure.. The match finishing 37-10.
The Australians were happy with the result. It's one of, if not the, longest times the Dutch have been held scoreless at the start of a match and in this first International tournament under the shot-clock, they managed to run down the Dutch clock twice!

(IKF Photo slideshow, showing off the no-sleeve Dutch Uniforms and many Australian's in the Green uniform here)

OTHERS
Other highlight matches from the Pools were Taiwan-Belgium.. Expected to determine who will face the Dutch, the Taiwanese were expected to win by many
observers following last year's Youth World Championships performance where they finished second.. The Belgians had everything to prove and came out hard leading 14-9 at half time.. Their defensive pressure increased in the second half and they ran out easy winners 30-16.
This result gave Great Britain great confidence, having only lost 25-13 to Belgium, so the following day's Taiwan-Great Britain became a crucial win for the British. They lead at half time 7-5, but at 45 minutes, scores were level (11-11) and the Taiwanese had the momentum and slowly drew away to win 17-14.

and in Pool A Czech Republic - Russia yesterday would determine who finished in the Top 2 to continue on to the Top 4 playoffs. The Czech's started well, up 7-5 at half time and increased their lead with the first 3 goals of the second half to 10-5.. But Russia recollected themselves despite a Czech time-out halfway through a spurt of 5 Russian goals and scores were level 11-11 at the 45th minute. The last 10 minutes saw rapidfire scoring of a goal per minute but the Russians were the more effective winning the game and the right to play Belgium for a chance against the Dutch 19-15.

Final pool standings are:

Pool A		Pool B
Netherlands	9	Belgium	9
Russia	6	Chinese Taipei	6
Czech Republic	3	Portugal	3
Australia	0	Great Britain	0

Today's matches will be:

3:15pm (Adelaide time)	Portugal Vs Australia
5:05pm	Great Britain Vs Czech Republic
6:55pm	Belgium Vs Russia
8:45pm	Chinese Taipei Vs Netherlands