Chinese Taipei v Catalonia

Hosts Chinese Taipei looked in impressive form in their 26 - 8 victory over Catalonia in their opening game.

Taipei stormed to a 3 - 0 lead in the first 5 minutes with goals from Wu Chun Hsien, Huang Ling Fan and Yeh Ming Te, all from distance.  Catalonia then missed a penalty and as Yeh Ming Te added another from distance the Taipei side then called a time out after just 10 minutes of play.  The Chinese Taipei onslaught continued unabated in the first half and they found the basket from distance time after time to go into the half time break leading 11 - 2.

Catalonia had used all 4 of their substitutes by the 36th minute but clearly struggled to cope with the attacking strength of the Chinese Taipei and with the game effectively over in the early stages it was simply a matter of how many Taipei would score.

Too add insult to injury Catalonia missed another penalty in the dying minutes but a Li Chou Ying's running in shot goal in the 57th minute was the final nail in the coffin for the Spanish side as Taipei secured an emphatic 26 - 8 victory against a somewhat experienced European Korfball nation.

On the evidence of this performance the expectations surrounding the Chinese Taipei side for this tournament look more than justified and it is difficult to see the likes of Australia and England matching the if they are able to reproduce this sort of form throughout the week and the fact that 11 Taipei players got on the score sheet in this game highlights their attacking power.

Yeh Ming Te was Taipei's highest scoring player with 5 while Salva Fort scored 5 for Catalonia

The big game of Pool B is looking to big the much anticipated Belgium v Chinese Taipei clash on Monday at 11.30 GMT and Korfball fans around the World will be desperately hoping that the organisers are able to get their act together in respect of the video feeds by then.

The Netherlands v Germany

Germany managed to stay with the Netherlands for about 3 minutes the Day 1 clash between the two, at which point the score stood at 2 - 2, but it was not long before the Dutch machine stepped up a gear scoring 7 goals in a 10 minute spell to take the score to 9 - 2.  Germany quickly called a time out and managed to recover from the onslaught, but with the Dutch leading 18 - 7 at the half time break the game had long been over for the Germans.

Germany continued to battle in the 2nd half and managed to find greater success in attack ending the game with a credible 15 goals past the best team in the World, with a final score of 28 - 15.

Anna Schuitema and Suzanne Struik ended the game as the highest scorers with 7 and 6 goals respectively and the Netherlands look set to continue on cruise control until the semi final stages at least.

So no real surprises on Day 1, although the extent of Chinese Taipei's victory over Catalonia was somewhat more than might have been predicted and the strong performances by newcomers Hong Kong and China suggest that they both might have the potential to cause an upset against the more experienced European sides as the week progresses.

Chinese Taipei to make Korfball history by reaching a World Championships final?

On the basis on their opening performance it certainly seems possible and unless one of the European B countries can produce an upset of their own this week they may have to be content with 4th place in this tournament at best