The Netherlands v China

It was a case of another stroll in the park for the world Champions as they headed for what should prove an interesting semi final clash with the wounded Belgians on Thursday.

In the meantime it was the chance to get in some shooting practice against newcomers China, not that on the face of this result they need it and also give some of the player unlikely to feature in the semi finals or final some game time.

The Netherlands quickly pulled away to a 14 - 5 half time lead and little changed in the 2nd half as the game ended with the Dutch side winning 28 - 9.

Roxana Detering scored 6 for the Netherlands while Liang Shuaishuai scored 3 goals for China.

Although it looks clear that China are heading in the right direction and will be a force on the world stage in the years ahead if nothing else this game gave them a clear idea of just how much they will have to do to compete with the might Dutch.

Belgium v Hong Kong

Having hopefully released some of their anger and frustration in their thrashing of Australia on Day 4, Belgium set about looking for much of them same against another weaker opponent, this time newcomers Hong Kong, and it will be interesting to see how many of the players that will feature in the semi final played in this game and whether Luc Tossens opted to rest them or look to boost their confidence and maybe get some much needed shooting practice.

The game was totally one sided as Belgium led 18 - 3 going into half time and there was little that Hong Kong could do with the Belgian's in this sort of mood but hope to score the odd goal themselves.

Eventually the game ended with a 32 - 5 victory but in truth thrashing the likes of Australia and Hong Kong will have proved little and of course many of the goals scored in this game were running shots, and the key now will be what Belgium can do against a top class team such as the Netherlands in the semi final, and quite probably how they will fare against the likes of Chinese Taipei or Russia in the 3rd/4th play off.

Jesse de Bremaeker scored 10 for the Belgians while Chan Ho Cheung was Hong Kong's leading scorer with 2 goals.

4th place in a major championships would without doubt be an utter disaster for the Belgian's and how 1991 must seem like an eternity Belgian Korfball now.

 Russia v South Africa

While Chinese Taipei have been stealing the show with their headline making performances Russia have been quietly progressing to the semi finals and may well prove Chinese Taipei's banana skin in this tournament.  Russia has been the other emerging nation that like Taipei has been working to a clear forward looking plan and vision and yesterday's destruction of the experienced German side made clear their credentials as far as their chances in the semi final are concerned.

South Africa were no match for the technically impressive and disciplined Russian side who stormed to a 5 - 1 lead in the opening minutes going into the half time break leading 15 - 3.

Russia continued their momentum in the 2nd half as they made three changes to their line up and ended with another comfortable 31 - 10 victory to send them into a semi final on Thursday against either Chinese Taipei or England, although it will probably be obvious who they will be planning for.

Alexander Vyunnik and Sergey Nizovskiy both scored 7 goal for Russia while Liandri Theyse scored 3 goals for South Africa.

Catalonia v Australia

Having had the misfortune to end up as 'whipping boys' for a Belgian side coming to terms with the end of an era, Australia's World Championships went from bad to worse as they were outclassed in their last game of Pool B by Catalonia. 

Possibly still reliving the nightmare of yesterday's thrashing, Australia found themselves trailing 3- 0 in the opening minutes and with the score at 5 - 1 used up their first time out early in the game.

Catalonia led going into the half time break 11 - 3 as Australia struggled time after time to find the basket and three early goals in the 2nd half from the Catalonian's took the score to 14  - 3.

Catalonia brought on Salva Fort in the 38th minute and soon found themselves leading 18 - 4 as Australia continued to struggle.  Australia used all of their substitutes but with little effect as they found themselves outclassed by the Catalonian's and last minute goals from Javier Blazquez and Berta Aloma took the final score to 23 - 8, a convincing win for the Catalonian side. 

Blazquez was Catalonia's leading scrorer with 7 goals.

Quite whether this result reflects the state of Australian Korfball at this level or whether they had not recovered from yesterday's trauma remains to be seen, but there can be no doubt that this had been a disappointing World Championships for the Australian side so far. 

The fact that only 4 years ago the Australia beat Chinese Taipei 17 - 14 in the Asian Oceanic Championships final gives a clear indication of just how much progress Chinese Taipei have mead in that period but that must seem a lifetime away now for the Aussies