10th IKF World Korfball Championship to start in Belgium this week
Belgium will be the world’s hotspot for korfball for the next 10 days, with the 10th IKF World Korfball Championship being hosted in Turnhout-Tielen, Ghent and Antwerp. 16 countries from all five continents have qualified for the Championship. All matches can be watched live at The World Games Channel.
The Netherlands, who won 8 out of 9 previous World Korfball Championships, are the clear favourites for the title, with Chinese Taipei and host country Belgium the likely contenders for a place in the final. The Belgian national coach Elewaut announced his team is committed to regaining the world title. Belgium won the IKF World Korfball Championship in 1991, coincidentally the last time that the Belgians were the hosts. The dramatic last few minutes of that match are in the minds of all Dutch and Belgian korfball fans. This year’s final will be played on 8 November at 15:30 CET and will be broadcast live on multiple TV channels in Europe and Asia.
Brazil will make its debut at the IKF World Korfball Championship, and will be the first Latin American country to qualify since 1991. The full list of countries and the match schedule is available online.
Eight countries at the IKF WKC 2015 will have the opportunity to qualify for The World Games 2017. Poland, as host country of TWG 2017, has qualified automatically. Due to the dominance of European countries in the IKF World Ranking, and the desire to increase the global participation at The World Games, the IKF Council has determined that any non-European country that finishes in the top-11 of this WKC would qualify, with the remaining countries coming from Europe. Currently, 3 non-European countries are ranked in the world’s top-11, being Chinese Taipei (3), Australia (8), and China (10).