Taipei to Host IKF World Korfball Championship for the First Time
The Chinese Taipei Korfball Association has successfully applied to host the 2020 IKF (International Korfball Federation) U21 World Korfball Championship and the 12th IKF World Korfball Championship (2023).
By hosting international korfball competitions for the first time in Taipei City, the aim is not only to let domestic korfball athletes catch up with international standards, but also to retain the title in Taipei. Furthermore, it is hoped to provide foreign athletes and tourists with pleasant memories through the marketing of Taipei’s unique local features.
IKF President Jan Fransoo, IKF Asia President Huang Ying-Che, and Chinese Taipei Korfball Association (CTKA) President Edward Huang met Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-Kun on November 19 to thank the city government for supporting international korfball competitions. In addition, they hope to facilitate more competitions and exchanges through collaborations between sports organizations and government agencies in order to elevate the performance and level of korfball and increase the number of sports audiences. President Fransoo of IFK and President Huang of CTKA signed the agreement for hosting the 12th IKF World Korfball Championship (2023) witnessed by Deputy Mayor Tsai.
As the most important international korfball competition in the world second only to the IKF World Korfball Championship, the 2nd IKF U21 World Korfball Championship will take place at Taipei Gymnasium from July 11-18 next year. In 2018, Chinese Taipei won 3rd place at the 1st IKF U21 World Korfball Championship in Budapest, Hungary; in the 11th IKF World Korfball Championship held in South Africa in August this year, Chinese Taipei clinched 3rd place out of 20 participating countries after losing to Belgium by one point in an extended match. Consequently, Chinese Taipei has high hopes for defeating Belgium at the 2020 and 2023 World Korfball Championship. More importantly, the home team wishes to take on world champions the Netherlands in front of their home crowd in a bid to snatch the highest honor of the World Korfball Championship.
Taiwan’s korfball team is currently ranked 2nd in the world. In addition to vigorously preparing for the first international korfball championship in Taipei next year to ensure the quality of the competition, team Chinese Taipei is also undergoing intensive training in hopes of putting on a great performance in front of the home supporters. Taipei City endeavors to join forces with national sports associations to host more international/official championships and major competitions in an attempt to increase citizens’ and public’s recognition towards sports development, as well as to broaden their horizons.