England finish 8th: World Championships round up

The past 10 days have seen countries from around the world compete at the IKF World Korfball Championships 2023, held in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei.

England began the tournament in Group E, with India up first. A winning start was sealed with a 26-10 victory. A 30-2 win over the Philippines followed, with a huge 7 goals in the game from Hannah Bealey. This confirmed top spot in the group and advancement to Group L, along with India, Australia and Germany. After already beating India, the first Group L contest saw the team take on Australia. Five goals from Rachel Turner and four from Ayishah Chaudry led England to a 19-7 victory. This set up a final group game with Germany, to see who would take top spot in Group L. Despite taking the early lead, Germany took the game 15-8.

Quarter Finals time saw England face the 10 time champions, the Netherlands. Goals from Ollie Francis and Emma Moss led to a 36-2 scoreline to the defending champions. 5th-8th place playoffs were the result of our quarter final defeat and another meeting with Germany. Four goals from Tiggy Warner saw the side run the Germans close, but eventually they were defeated 20-14. Portugal were then to be our opponents in the 7th place playoffs. Four goals from Rachel Turner and three from Dom Brooks, saw this game become a tight affair, however Portugal had enough to see the game out, 19-13. This confirmed our 8th place position, one place higher than in 2019. A huge well done and congratulations to all the players and staff who were part of the team.

Referees

England Korfball referee Steve Jones (WAL) was appointed to a record 3rd IKF World Championship Final as a referee. Steve had previously refereed the 2011 Final in China and the 2019 Final in South Africa. This was the first Final with a Duo referee pairing; Steve officiated the Final with Kris Meeus of Belgium, who is refereed in his first World Championship. The Final was be between the Netherlands and Chinese Taipei, with the hosts from Taiwan qualifying for their first World Championship final. They lost out to the Dutch 27-9.

Chris West (ENG), in his debut World Championship, refereed the 5th/6th Playoff between Germany and Suriname with Carlos Faria of Portugal. This followed Chris being appointed to the Semi Final between Belgium and Chinese Taipei with Peter van der Terp of the Netherlands on Friday evening.

Congratulations to Steve, Chris and all the referees on their appointments throughout the championships.