Taiwan is the host country of the 12th Korfball World Cup. Until now, Belgium and the Netherlands have always reached the final, which only resulted in a Belgian world title in 1991.
The Turkish pig was washed today, Hong Kong should in principle not cause too many problems for the Belgian Diamonds in the next group match.
But our korfball players are on their guard. “If everything goes normally, we will meet home country Taiwan in the semi-finals,” says captain Jordan de Vogelaere.
“History teaches us that it will be a close game. They are to be feared and the crowd will act crazy. It will be a hell of a battle, we will be their biggest enemy.”
“It will be a great benchmark for us as a group. If we do what is asked and if we work together, the result will follow.”
And then the normal Netherlands will wait in the final? “Can we beat them? We first have to get past a few countries and certainly beyond Taiwan,” national coach Detlev Elewaut also warns.
“We are here with a new and young team. I think we can become even stronger, but we have to wait and see to what extent we can resist.”
“We are on a journey and we will not let this World Cup depend on a win or a defeat.”
The preparation for the World Cup was not ideal given the packed calendar. “Our clubs are also running at full speed,” the national coach explains.
“The collaboration is very good, but you feel that players also have to perform at their club and that makes for a very busy program, physically and mentally.”
“We have had some setbacks, but we are trying to do the best we can with this group. Although we have had to train several times at half a pace due to too much machining.”
“This World Cup is the highest achievable as a player,” the captain also nods. “But club interests also play a role.”
“Sometimes it was difficult, but I congratulate the staff of our national team. They kept a close eye on our physical preparedness. The training sessions were tailored accordingly.”
These are headaches that the Dutch are not familiar with. “They practice their sport professionally.”
“We have students or people who work 40 hours and we train in the evening, the Dutch train during the day. Korfball is an A sport there. That is a big difference. We make a lot of sacrifices and that is all we can do.”
2023-10-20 17:16:44
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