England Squad Named for IKF European Championships
Dave Buckland, England Korfball Head Coach has selected a squad of sixteen players for the IKF European Korfball Championships.
There’s a new look to the England squad – Otto Fabius returns to the squad after a break of 5 years. Fabius, 25, last played for Great Britain in the 31-18 victory over Australia at the World Games in July 2009.
Fabius has recently transferred to Korfbal League side Blauw-Wit after last season playing for Dalto/BNApp in the Netherlands. In the short period that Fabius played for England and Great Britain he regularly top scored in matches.
The Dutch theme continues with the selection of Nomads Korfball Club’s star, Sytze Bijker. Bijker, 28, has been living and playing korfball in England for the last five years. In the last four years Bijker has averaged 106 goals each season in England Korfball’s top league.
Bec Korfball Club are well represented in the new look England squad with 7 players selected.
The training program for the IKF European Korfball Championships started is now well underway. Recently (16-17 August) the squad travelled to Belgium to play in the Needlandia tournament. England won four out of the five matches, narrowly missing out on first place by a single goal.
As part of the build up to the Europeans the new look squad will take part in a series of International matches in England against Catalonia, Scotland and Wales on Saturday 06 and Sunday 07 September. The matches are free to attend – why not come along and see the new squad in action?
The squad:
Females: Caitlin Fitzgerald, Jo-Anne Wilson (Bec Korfball Club), Sara Roberts (Birmingham City Korball Club), Sammi Bedford, Hannah Lorrimer (Nottingham Korfball Club), Alex Derham, Ashley Warner (Tornadoes Korfball Club) and Steph Allen (Trojans Korfball Club).
Males: Joe Bedford, Andrew Hall, Ben King, Blake Palfreyman, Davesh Patel (Bec Korfball Club), Otto Fabius (Blauw-Wit), Sytze Bijker (Nomads Korfball Club), Charlie Vogwill (Norwich Knights).
The IKF European Korfball Championship will take place between Saturday 25 October and Sunday 02 November 2014 in Maia, Portugal.
Sixteen teams will participate; Belgium, Catalonia, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, The Netherlands, Turkey and Wales.