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Wales national korfball team

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Wales
File:Wales Korfball Pel Korf Cymru.jpg
AssociationWelsh Korfball Association (WKA)
IKF membership2007; 17 years ago (2007)
IKF codeWAL Wales
IKF rank17
World Championships
Appearances1
First appearance2011
Best result15th, 2011
European Championships
Appearances1
First appearance2010
Best result11th place, 2010
European Bowl
Appearances3
First appearance2007
Best resultWest div. Champions, 2007 & 2009
http://www.welshkorfball.org/

The Wales National Korfball Team often referred to as the Welsh Korfball Squad (WKS) is managed by the Welsh Korfball Association (Cymdeithas Bêl-Korf Cymru), and represents Wales in international korfball competition. The Welsh Korfball Squad entered its first IKF ranking competition in 2007, after the Great Britain national korfball team was disbanded to produce three teams: England, Wales and Scotland. Wales is a fully recognised member of the International Korfball Federation and is currently ranked 17th in the world.

They played the World Championships for the first and only time in 2011, after the withdrawal of Hungary.[1] In 2006 they reached the 3rd place in the Korfball Commonwealth Games.[2] In 2014, Wales entered an U21 squad to the IKF U21 European Korfball Championship.

Tournament Results

World Championships[3]
Year Championship Host Classification
2011 9th World Championship Shaoxing (China) 15th place
World Games
Year Championship Host Classification
European Championships[4]
Year Championship Host Classification
2010 4th European Championships The Netherlands 11th place
2014 5th European Championships Portugal TBC
European Bowl
Year Championship Host Classification
2007 2nd European Bowl Luxembourg Champions (West)
2009 3rd European Bowl Luxembourg Champions (West)
2013 4th European Bowl Netherlands 2nd place (East)
Commonwealth Championship
Year Championship Host Classification
2006 1st Korfball Commonwealth Championship London (England) 3rd place

Current squad

Caps and goals updated as of November 2013.

  • Coach: Graham Box England
  • Assistant Coach: John Williams Wales
  • Team Manager: Richard Snowcroft Wales
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 Laura Pacey (1991-09-28) 28 September 1991 (age 33) 2 0 Wales
2 Carla Bennett (1979-08-15) 15 August 1979 (age 45) 18 25 England Norwich Knights
3 Bethan Phillips (1989-09-02) 2 September 1989 (age 35) 3 0 England Birmingham City
4 Catherine Davies (1985-02-25) 25 February 1985 (age 39) 1 0 Wales Cardiff Dragons
5 Julie Prosser (1983-01-07) 7 January 1983 (age 41) 10 4 Wales Cardiff City
6 Ruth Campbell (1983-09-14) 14 September 1983 (age 41) 23 17 England Bristol Thunder
7 Hannah Ager (1985-03-17) 17 March 1985 (age 39) 9 3 England Birmingham City
8 Jonquil Nash (1988-10-14) 14 October 1988 (age 36) 1 0 Wales Cardiff Raptors
9 James Wilcox (1993-06-08) 8 June 1993 (age 31) 3 5 Wales Cardiff University
10 Ramzi Barbir (1981-01-21) 21 January 1981 (age 43) 21 44 England Bristol Thunder
11 John Williams (1975-06-21) 21 June 1975 (age 49) 26 36 England Nomads
12 Kevin Jones (1983-10-12) 12 October 1983 (age 41) 20 25 England Manchester Warriors
13 Richard Snowcroft (1984-12-11) 11 December 1984 (age 40) 5 3 England Birmingham City
14 Thomas Robinson (1991-02-08) 8 February 1991 (age 33) 1 0 Wales Cardiff Dragons
15 Nick Wilkins (1981-08-11) 11 August 1981 (age 43) 20 58 England Birmingham City
16 Patrick Merton (1990-04-04) 4 April 1990 (age 34) 0 0 Wales Cardiff Raptors
17 Luke James (1995-08-27) 27 August 1995 (age 29) 0 0 England Croydon
18 Alex Seabright (1994-08-27) 27 August 1994 (age 30) 0 0 England Birmingham University


History

Since 2002 the Welsh Korfball Association has existed to develop and promote the sport of Korfball in Wales. The WKS competed at non-IKF affiliated events before they made their debut at an IKF Ranking Tournament in 2007. Wales was officially recognised on the IKF World Rankings in 2007, entering a 51 strong list of nations at 24.

2005
Wales competed alongside England, Ireland, Scotland, and Great British Students, at the Home Nations Championship. They lost to GB Students and England but won against Scotland and Ireland putting them in third place.

2006
A Four Nations Tournament took place in Luxembourg between Wales, Scotland, Greece, and the hosts Luxembourg. Wales won two of the three matches, suffering a narrow 12-13 defeat to Scotland. Wales later participated in the first Korfball Commonwealth Championship (London) with England, Scotland, Australia and South Africa. Additional matches were played against Ireland and North America (United States & Canada) during the tournament. Wales were beaten 6-30 by England and 9-11 by South Africa. They held Australia to a draw and won by a single goal against Scotland. They were placed third above Australia on goal difference. In the other matches they lost to Ireland and defeated North America, placing them fourth when including the two guest nations.

2007
In 2007, Wales participated in their first official IKF ranking event: the European Bowl West. Wales won every match against the other participants (France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Scotland, and Sweden) to be crowned champions. Later that year Wales played friendlies against Sweden and Germany in preparation for the European Bowl final. The winners of the European Bowl East, Slovakia, defeated Wales at the final.

2008
The WKS attended the Stadskanal International Tournament and played matches against Slovakia and Luxembourg. They were able to take revenge on Slovakia, for the defeat the previous year at the European Bowl Final, with a 14-12 victory. They also beat Luxembourg 12-10.

2009
Two years later, Wales returned to the European Bowl West with Dave Buckland at the helm and were once again crowned champions after winning every game; in the process they qualified for the European Championships in 2010. Wales competed against France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Scotland, and Sweden; it was the same six participants as the 2007 European Bowl West.

2010
In the opening matches of the European Championships Wales suffered some of their worst defeats, one at the hands of the Czech Republic and another to Portugal. However, they managed to secure 11th place, just outside of the top ten which qualified for the World Championship. Following the tournament Wales rose to 18th in the IKF World Rankings.

2011
After the withdrawal of Hungary, Wales was invited to the World Championship in China; another major tournament debut for Wales. Dankmar Caderius Van Veen was appointed Head Coach after the departure of Dave Buckland who moved on to coach the England national korfball team. The schedule saw Wales opening the competition in a thrilling encounter with hosts China, ending 13-17 in favour of the Chinese. Wales went on to lose all of their games except the last match against South Africa. The game was decided in the last minutes with Wales emerging victorious by the slimmest of margins. After this performance on the world scene, Wales rose another place, to 17th, in the IKF World Rankings.

2013
In 2013, Wales participated for the third time at the European Bowl, this time in the Eastern division, aiming to qualify for the 2014 European Championships, Portugal. Wales' new coach was Dutch international cap record holder, Leon Simons. The 16 strong squad selected for this tournament was the largest Wales squad ever taken to a competition and also the squad containing the most uncapped players prior to the competition. Wales secured their place in Portugal after a golden goal victory over Ireland. Wales lost the final to Turkey after sidelining their usual starting 8 in favour of squad development. [5]

2014
The WKA appointed Graham Box, an ex-Great Britain player (1979–85), who also went on the coach the Great Britain team to 5th at the 2002 European Championships. Box is the first English coach of the Welsh Korfball Squad and selected his training squad for the European Championships at the Welsh Open Tournament on 22nd February 2014. The tournament featured a record number of trialists; a 12% increase on the number that trialed before the World Championships, in 2011.

Top goalscorers

Only caps and goals scored in IKF ranking matches are counted. Goalscorers with an equal number of goals are ranked with the highest to lowest goals per game ratio.

# Name Career Goals Caps Position Average
1 Nick Wilkins 2007-2014 58 20 2.9
2 Ramzi Barbir 2007-2014 44 21 2.095
3 John Williams 2007-2014 36 26 1.385
4 Dave Buckland 2007-2013 33 18 1.83
5 Carla Bennett 2010-2014 25 18 1.38
6 Kevin Jones 2009-2014 25 20 1.25
7 Ruth Campbell 2009-2014 17 23 0.739
8 Steve Jones 2007 16 6 2.67
9 Tonya Richards 2009-2010 12 12 1
10 Zoe Rose 2007-2014 9 26 0.346

Records

Most Goals in a Single Game - Nick Wilkins during Scotland vs Wales at the 2010 European Championships; Wales won the game 15-18 with Wilkins scoring 8 goals.[1]

Most Capped Players - John Williams and Zoe Rose have both earned 26 caps for Wales from 2007-2013. Williams and Rose have competed in every IKF Ranking Tournament that Wales has featured in.[2][3]

Most Consecutive Appearances - Zoe Rose had appeared in 23 games in a row for Wales from 2009 to 2013. Her run was broken when she missed the European Bowl final 2013.[4]

Youngest Player - 17 year old Cheya Tyson is the youngest person to play for Wales senior team, making her debut against Turkey at the 2013 European Final.[5]

Oldest Player - Dave Buckland is the oldest player to appear for Wales, aged 45 during the 2013 European Bowl Final.[6]

Top Goalscorer - Nick Wilkins has scored 58 goals in 20 IKF matches for Wales.[7]

Heaviest Defeat - Wales has lost by 25 goals twice, and both times to the Czech Republic, 32-7 at the European Championships (Netherlands) in 2010 [8] and 29-4 at the World Championship (China) in 2011.[9]

Largest Victory - Wales beat Scotland 18-5 at the European Bowl (Luxembourg) in 2009.[10]

Rival Nations - Wales have played rival Celtic nations Ireland and Scotland, five times each. Wales have won every encounter with Scotland and four of the five against Ireland.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Wales Make Korfball World Championship Debut in China". BBC. 27 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Korfball Commonwealth Games". BBC. 24 August 2006.
  3. ^ "The history of the IKF and the IKF World Championship" (PDF). IKF.
  4. ^ "The history of the IKF European Championship" (PDF). IKF.
  5. ^ "Wales Qualify for EC2014". Welsh Korfball Association. 25 October 2013.
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