The 2018 "ZZU" Eurasian Korfball Competition kicked off at Zhengzhou University, Central China's Henan province, on Thursday afternoon, marking the first time the province has held an international korfball competition.
The competition was approved by the International Korfball Federation, and was jointly hosted by the Chinese Leisure Sport Administration Center and Zhengzhou University, creating a good platform for Chinese students to learn more about korfball, said Ma Xiangcheng, chief coach for the China national korfball team.
The opening competition of the elite korfball players pitted the Netherlands team against the Chinese Taipei team, attracting hundreds of professional and amateur athletes.
In addition, the Chinese Hong Kong team and Chinese national team are also part of the korfball competition, which will last for four days, from June 21 to 24.
"Even though korfball looks similar to netball or basketball, korfball is special," Ma said. He explained it is played by two teams of eight players, with four women and four men on each team or with eight players in each team, and the objective is to throw a ball through a bottomless basket mounted on a pole standing 3.5 meters high.
"There are more than 500 clubs and over 100,000 people playing korfball in the Netherlands. Dutch people, including the young and the old, the males and the females, all like playing it. It looks like a big family sport," Jan-sjouke van den Bos, performance director for korfball in the Netherlands, told China Daily.
In fact, korfball has more than 100 years of history, as it was invented in 1902 by the Dutch school teacher Nico Broekhuysen, and the sport is popular in the Netherlands, Belgium and Chinese Taiwan.
Today, over 60 countries and regions play korfball, a sport included in the World Games since 1985. The IKF World Championships have been held every four years since 1978, with Belgium and the Netherlands as the leading nations.
"Four players of each team are in one zone, and the rest are in the other zone. Within each zone, a player may only defend a member of the opposite team of the same gender, so the sport has a low risk for injury. What’s more, cooperation and efficient teamwork are the keywords for the sport," said Daan Preaninger, 22, a Dutch player.
Preaninger said he started to play korfball at the age of 7 in Netherlands. "Coming to China to join the competition is also a way to learn and to communicate," said Preaninger, adding that he was impressed by a Shaolin kung fu show he saw at the opening ceremony.