Belgium's Under 23 side will
take the 'Monuta' World Youth
Cup back to Belgium this weekend
after their 9 - 5 win over
Chinese Taipei in final of what
has proved an impressive
tournament for the Chinese
Taipei squad.
Taipei pulled off an 8 - 7 win
over Belgium in a what has been
described as a fantastic game
the previous day, thanks to a
dramatic last second goal from
Cheng-Hung Hsieh, and went into
the semi finals unbeaten at the
top of Group B having proved to
strong for Great Britain and
Hungary.
The Netherlands East secured
their place in the semi finals
at the top of Group B also
remaining unbeaten in the Group
matches, with Team 'Monuta' the
Dutch selection side named after
the sponsors finishing 2nd.
Belgium secured their place in
the semi finals with seemingly
easy wins over Great Britain and
Hungary, whilst the Czech
Republic found themselves at the
wrong end of the final day's
matches managing only a win over
Germany in the Group matches.
In the semi finals Chinese
Taipei produced another
impressive performance defeating
Team 'Monuta' 9 - 6 to secure a
place in their first ever World
Youth Cup final. The
Chinese Taipei were always
ahead, going into the half time
break with a 5 - 3 lead.
The other semi final between
Belgium and the Netherlands East
proved to be the most dramatic
and exciting of the tournament
and with the Dutch side leading
12 - 11 with 30 seconds left on
the clock, German referee Georg
Berkel awarded a free pass to
Belgium from which the male
player of the tournament Nick
Mertens scored to send the game
into extra time. The Netherlands
East coach Martin Koenders was
clearly unhappy about the
decision and his protests earned
him a red card from referee
Berkel but there was even more
drama on the menu in this
thrilling game.
Belgium scored what they must
have thought was the winning
goal in their first attack but
amazingly the Netherlands East
scored in their following
attack. Determined not be denied
a place in the final Belgium
found the basket once again but
this time the Dutch side had no
answer and Belgium would now
have the chance to avenge their
earlier defeat at the hands of
Chinese Taipei.
In
the final Belgium were off to a
flying start and a 4 - 1 lead
and despite a spirited
performance from Chinese Taipei
Belgium managed to hold on to
their lead to win the final 9 -
6.
The Netherlands East finished in
the Bronze medal position with a
13 - 8 win over Team Monuta in
the 3rd/4th play off, while
Great Britain finished a
disappointing 6th losing 12 - 11
to the Czech Republic in the
5th/6th play off.
Belgium's Nick Mertens was voted
the male player of the
tournament and Danielle Bosch of
the Netherlands East the best
female and top female
goalscorer. The top
goalscorer of the tournament was
Jos Rozeboom of the Netherlands
East.
The Colin Boy's squad will
possibly take heart from the
fact that they lost to Chinese
Taipei by only two goals but
they would appear to have been
unable to compete with Belgium,
losing 15 - 5, and narrowly
avoided the 7th/8th play off
thanks to their 5 - 4 win over
Germany.
For British Korfball 2005 has
hardly got off to a flying start
as far as the international
scene is concerned with this
performance following hot on the
heels of Mitcham's recent Europa
Cup campaign.
Clearly British Korfball will be
hoping for greater success in
the Youth Talent Cup (Under 16s)
and the Junior World Cup (Under
19s), both now only weeks away
although there is speculation
that Great Britain may well have
to withdraw from the Under 19
event due to a lack of available
players and it was certainly
interesting to see former
Mitcham player Amanda Dunckley
featuring in the GB Under 23
squad despite having played no
top class Korfball for over 2
years. The withdrawal of
the Under 19 squad from such a
major event will be a major set
back for British Korfball's
international aspirations and it
would seem that little is
expected of the squad, as a
result of poor training
attendance in recent weeks and a
somewhat weakened squad, should
they be able to take part.
By
contrast the Great Britain Under
16 squad has no such problems
and under coach Peter Teague
will go into the Youth Talent
Cup better prepared than any
other British squad in this age
group.
The full GB Under 16 squad has
recently been announced and
features players from Bearsted,
Kwiek and Invicta from Kent, The
West London Wildcats, Trojans,
Nomads and Mitcham from London,
along with players from
Cambridge Knights and Norwich
City.
The GB Under 16 squad also
features a number of players
involved in the Korfball School
of Excellence project and is
heading for Schindel in the
Netherlands with the intention
of bringing back the trophy, as
the Russians did 2 years ago.
Should the BKA be forced to
withdraw the GB Under 19 squad
from the Junior World Cup then
one option would be to send the
Under 16 squad in their place,
something that would certainly
be feasible with some last
minute fund raising, especially
as 4 players are already in the
squad and other were set to be
drafted in. Grasping such an
opportunity in this way
certainly place the GB Under 16
squad in a strong position next
season and might just be a first
step towards the goal of
competing with the very best.
Day 1 results |
Final Day results
KorfballNet 6/2/05
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