The new Referees timetable is out for the remainder of the year. It can be viewed online here.

Following on from the failed proposal to move State League to a Summer Thursday timeslot, Korfball SA is still keen to pursue a Summer Thursday timeslot with a less formal competition.

We think that the combination of a weeknight competition and the Summer season will increase the potential reach of the sport out to new players.

More details are still to be determined, but we wanted to get the news out of our plans early so you can start recruiting a team of family, friends and work colleagues.

There is now an official IKF Youtube Channel for Korfball Videos.

Check it out here.

I suspect this will become the new default site for Match “broadcasts” at World Championships and the like. As such you can find the link in the Links section of this site.

Due to a double booking at Westminster, all matches have been delayed by 30 minutes.

Clubs have been notified of this change.

Here’s the match report from the IKF

“Australia – Hong Kong China: play off for 3^rd /4^th place
Australia came out looking like a different team to the side that played Hong Kong on the first day of the tournament. Today the shots went in, the play flowed smoothly and the defence was intense. The Aussies broke away to a 6-2 lead before Hong Kong fought back to 7-6 with Ying Yeung TANG scoring twice to take the pressure off. Australia was playing their best korfball for the tournament and James Tye and Kathy Mc Culloch-Tull were playing well. At half time the score was 12-9 with the stage set for an exciting second half. Australia scored through Jess Rismondo in the first 10 seconds after the break and drew 4 goals clear for the fourth time for the match. With Australia growing in confidence with each shot, the Aussies broke away and were too good today for Hong Kong and took the bronze medal comfortably with a final score of 24-19”

In the other games, New Zealand was trounced by India, down 10-0 after 10 minutes, they never recovered and lost 34-10. The 5th place and possile World Champs berth going to India.

Unsurprisingly, Korea easily overcame the Pakistan team who I’m pretty sure hold the sorry record of the worst loss ever in an International and probably in any competitive Korfball game (They lost to India on Day One 63-1!!! That’s not a typo!) as well as probably the worst aggregate goal difference in an International tournament -155 across 5 matches. The Pakistanis, by all accounts, were beginners really only participating to learn some skills.

In the Grand Final, no real surprises again with Chinese Taipei taking Gold over China. Surprisingly though, the half time score was 9-9! Not only a very low scoring half but also surprising that China was capable of staying in touch with the Taiwanese.  The second half however was all Chinese Taipei and they ran out easy winners 27-19.

Last night Australia was relegated to the 3rd-4th playoff  (against Hong Kong) for the first time in Asia-Oceania Korfball History. They lost 27-16 and Jess Rismondo left the court with an injured knee. Hopefully, it was just a “Jess Rizz” injury and she’ll be back up and running today and fatigue and injuries do not prevent the Australians from overturning their loss against the Hing Kong team on the first day of this tournament.

Here’s the match report from the IKF:

“Taipei too strong in the second half for the tired Aussies
Australia kept close to Chinese Taipei in the first half and was unlucky not to be even closer at half time than 10-7 after missing many easy opportunities. Ben Wallace was having his best game for the week and Clinton Bryan was consistent again. After the break Australia’s leading scorer for the week, Jessica Rissmondo (sic) left the court with an injured knee and the Taiwanese machine kicked into top gear. Chinese Taipei eventually ran out comfortable victors 27-16 and showed why they have been the dominant force in Asia / Oceania for many years.”

Clearly, the fast pace of the game suited Ben’s style and the Chinese Taipei defence must have worked hard to cut Jess May’s influence.

The biggest news of the tournament though is that China is through to the final after defeating Hong Kong 24-20.

They’ve come from nowhere in the past few years and the Political turmoil between the two countries will likely make the final a hard fought encounter.
It’s great to have the Chinese performing so well, so quickly in our sport as it can only help to strengthen Korfball’s position in World Sport if China can become a force.

Finally, the Kiwis face off against India for 5th place and a potential spot in the World Championships. The IKF Council has decided that if less than five countries will enter the IKF African Championships in September 2010, an extra place will be made available to the participants in this Asia-Oceania Championship. It would be New Zealand’s first World Championships if they win and that 5th spot becomes available.

Australia has qualified for the 2011 World Championships despite a surprise loss to Hong Kong on Day 1 of the Asia-Oceania Championships in China. They wrapped up the other games in their pool against New Zealand and Korea with easy wins.

It’s been a rough and tumble tournament so far and it will no doubt get rougher and tougher. With the Australians finishing second in their pool, they next face (Wednesday 7th) the Giants of the tournament, Chinese Taipei for the right to play in the Grand Final.

Video is available here and match results here.

League Ladders are up and running here.

In the future, hit the link from the “Competition Information” menu above.

UPDATE: The timetable is still not functioning as I would like, but there is now something of an integrated solution.

I’m having some trouble getting the timetable viewable inside the Korfball SA site.. In the meantime, it is available for viewing here.

U20 State Training is about to start again. So here are the details:

Please bring with you a drink and your $4 for the session. Please also let me know if you are unable to attend.

Cheers all,

Zoe 0402 295 966