England drop one place in IKF World rankings

England have dropped one place to 5th in the official International Korfball Federation’s World rankings which were released on Sunday (09 November 2014).

The top three ranking places are unchanged. There are changes in rankings in places four to nine. China remain in 10th place; (1) The Netherlands, (2) Belgium, (3) Chinese Taipei, (4)  Portugal, (5) England, (6) Czech Republic, (7) Catalonia, (8) Australia, (9) Germany, (10) China.

Portugal moved ahead of England after victories in the Bronze medal matches over England’s Under-21 and Senior squads in the recent European Championships.

David Synott from England Korfball said: “B country korfball at the moment is a very exciting place to be. The level of competition between 4th and 10th place is very close and for England to consistently finish in the top of this section in major championships across all age groups is a great reward for its membership.

“England Korfball is very proud of the work of the current players and volunteers to have maintained such a consistently high IKF ranking.

“By the nature of sport that ranking will undulate and the current move is down on position. Our long term high ranking is also testament to the work done by previous volunteers and previous administrations who have built over 75+ years a solid bedrock of korfball across an entire country.

“It was clear from the recent Europeans that an increase in intensity in domestic competition has bred a larger pool of world class international players. I hope that clubs and more importantly area associations will look at the performance of senior and junior programs and strive to focus on increasing the level of their local competition so that we can continue to showcase English Korfball on the international stage.

“Our aim continues to be the next country to bridge the gap to A status and move away from the other B counties. It is important to England Korfball that this is done as a result of exceptional domestic growth in participant numbers and quality. Our international success is a reflection of our domestic excellence.

“Congratulations to the squad for another superb performance at the the Europeans.”

Source: IKF.org - http://www.ikf.org/2014/11/ikf-ranking-2014/