The Beach Korfball is participating for the first time this year. The relatively young sport was devised in 2000, as a variant of the regular korfball. “The big difference is that the matches of two times six minutes are relatively short,” explains Koopmans. For comparison: with korfball, a match lasts as long as five times as long. Beachkorfball with fewer players is also played: four against four, instead of eight to eight.
According to Koopmans, this makes the game a lot more dynamic. “You play on sand, which means that your muscles will acidify faster and you get tired sooner. With beach korfball you can switch unlimited and that must also be done quickly, because otherwise it cannot be sustained. We go to China with six players, so that means that each player is in the field about two -thirds of the match.”
Just like with korfball, the Dutch beach basketball players are also the favorite for the final victory. But, Koopmans emphasizes, that victory is not obvious. “With the Beach Korfball the level is a bit more right. Despite the fact that we became world champions last year, we lost Taiwan in the group stage.”
The Taiwanese are not the only ones who are keen to knock the Netherlands off the throne. The Belgians, for years the largest Dutch korfball competition and the Poles (the global number 1 in the Beach Korfball) are praising the Golden Plak. “Everything must be right,” says Koopmans.