A few years back there had been talk of including the likes of England and Germany into the Annual Inter land event between The Netherlands and Belgium at the junior age groups which made a lot of sense but it never transpired sadly.

The inclusion of England into the Junior Korfball challenge event was in recognition of the talent development work done over the last 10 years and England went on to finish 2nd above Belgium and all the other Dutch regions at the U19 level a couple of years ago.

England needs to competing more often with The Netherlands and Belgium far more than is currently the case at all levels but both the Dutch and Belgians will only be interested in doing so if we can compete with them and that relies heavily on whether we have been able to keep the momentum of our talent development to ensure we are continuing to develop the quality of players that took second place at the challenge.

Far too many of the games in current competitions are pointless exercises in terms of pushing us to higher levels, and in that way facing a stronger group is of benefit

These was talk of running a two tier structure for the JWC a couple of years back but this never materialized. Had it we would have faced a tournament where every game was a competitive challenge which is what we need.

The problem is consistency in terms of each nation's talent development programs and it is only the Dutch, Belgians and Taiwan (and in recent years England) that consistently produce good quality players at the younger age groups.

The two sides that top their respective groups will feature in the 1st Qualifying Final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on March 22 with the winner progressing to the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka

The sides that finish second and third in the two groups will play cross-over matches. The two winners will progress to the Preliminary Final to be played on March 23 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The 2nd Qualifying Final - for the second spot in the World Twenty20- will take place on the morning of March 24 between the loser of the 1st Qualifying Final and the winner of the Preliminary Final.

But it's not that I'm criticising the format (in which case my criticism would be that not enough associate nations get to play in the final tournament), simply pointing out that most sports tie themselves up in knots trying to get a balance between widening participation, maximising quality matches and maintaining fairness.

Seems like the IKF may have seen the error in their ways and used the withdrawal of the Czechs to make the pools more even?

Certainly good news for England.

Seems like the IKF may have seen the error in their ways and used the withdrawal of the Czechs to make the pools more even?

Certainly good news for England.

Did you not read Graham's explanation on earlier pages?
New pools, same ranking system used, makes complete sense to me.

A better chance for England? Maybe? But that was probably Ikf's least concern!

What I see as worrying is that the Czechs aren't able to visit what I think is one of the more prestigious events in korfball, when it is fairly close (Barcelona). For me this is not a good development for global korfball. On the other hand I am happy to see China participate and will follow their performance with great interest.

I share Marc's concerns about the Czech republic and it is disturbing to see a nation ranked so highly not being able to attend such a major championships, especially when so close.
It will certainly be interesting to see how China does.

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