IFA U18 Fistball World Championship Germany 2016 has 3,850 spectators
The IFA U18 Fistball World Championship for women and men in Nürnberg-Eibach, with six participating teams from three continents, ended with a double victory by defending champion Germany. Germany defeated Brazil 4:2 in the women’s finals (14:15; 11:06, 11:04, 09:11, 14:12, 11:08), and the German men’s team defeated Austria in the finals, also 4:2 (12:10, 11:04, 06:11, 11:06, 07:11, 11:04). In the small finals, Switzerland won third place among the women’s teams, and Brazil took third among the men.
Austria’s U18 men played convincingly in every game up to the finals, raising expectations for their performance in the final match against Germany. It seemed like they had a chance against the host team in the preliminary round. Things looked good at the beginning of the first set, with the Austrians quickly pulling ahead 9:5. But Team Austria was unable to seal the deal. Germany took the lead and then the victory, 12:10. This anticlimactic finish was followed by a 11:04 set loss.
But then the Austrians cranked it up, taking the third set 11:06. It was relatively clear that set four was back in German hands. The Germans got better from one point to the next against the Austrians, and showed a clear improvement in performance over the previous World Championship matches. With a score of 11:06, the fourth set was a relatively clear victory for them. In the fifth set, the Austrians remembered their strengths again and fought for the 11:07 set win.
Germany dominated the next set once again, however. While Austria’s lack of concentration kept growing with the increasing set length, with the team even accumulating unforced errors, Germany played outstandingly in front of 1,350 spectators, leaving little doubt that they wouldn’t let this set, and with it the match, slip out of their hands again. They scored the match point, 10:4. Germany won the World Championship Final easily, 4:2 in sets.

In the exciting final of the women’s U18, the defending champion Germany was able to take the victory with their two Eibacher players Sonja Schröder and Auguste Grothoff. Their 4:2 win may look like an easy victory, but the match itself was much more exciting. The first and fifth sets were particularly close, at 14:15 and 14:12.

Overall, 3,850 spectators came out to the spacious grounds in Nuremberg-Eibach during the four event days. Every match on the center court was broadcast live on the Internet and additionally the event had a TV coverage of 14:30 minutes including a 8:38 minutes TV live coverage on German Television. IFA President Karl Weiss said at the presentation ceremony that this was the “best U18 World Cup ever” and thanked the organizers and volonteers from TV Eibach 03 for their great commitment. The IFA U18 World Championships are held every two years.

Men:
Final: Germany – Switzerland 4:2
(12:10, 11:4, 6:11, 11:6, 7:11, 11:4)
Bronze Medal Match: Brazil – Switzerland 4:0
(11:8, 11:8, 11:8, 11:6)

Final Ranking:
1. Germany
2. Austria
3. Brazil
4. Switzerland
5. India

Women:
Final: Brazil – Germany 2:4
(15:14, 6:11, 4:11, 11:9, 12:14, 8:11).
Bronze Medal Match: Austria – Switzerland 3:4
(15:14, 12:14, 11:6, 11:9, 9:11, 7:11, 12:14).

Final Ranking:
1. Germany
2. Brazil
3. Switzerland
4. Austria
5. USA
6. India

English Text see below

In Indien gibt es seit einigen Monaten zwei Faustballverbände. Der ältere Verband ist die Faustball Federation of India, die seit vielen Jahren – wie zuletzt bei der Herren Faustball WM in Argentinien trotz offizielle Meldung einer Mannschaft – durch eine sehr kurzfristige Absage vor Beginn des jeweiligen Events auf sich aufmerksam gemacht hatte. Zudem ausstehende Mitgliedsgebühren hätten in Kürze zu einem Ausschluss des Verbandes geführt.

Auch auf Grund dieser kurzfristigen Absagen hat sich in Indien im Frühjahr 2016 ein konkurrierender Verband, die Fistball Federation of India gegründet und offiziell registrieren lassen. Der neue Verband hat frühzeitig alle erforderlichen Schritte unternommen, um bei der IFA U18 Faustball-Weltmeisterschaft in Nürnberg dabei zu sein und wurde mit dem gemeldeten Herren-Team in den veröffentlichten Spielplan aufgenommen.

Der ältere, kurz vor dem Ausschluss stehende, seit 2003 bestehende Verband hat in einer Last-Minute-Aktion seine Teilnahme organisiert und war entgegen der langjährigen Praxis am Montag dieser Woche nach Nürnberg angereist, wobei die Ausrichter und der Weltverband erst wenige Stunden vor der Ankunft informiert worden sind, da Hotels und Flüge bei Faustballveranstaltungen vom jeweiligen Verband bzw. den Teilnehmern selbst getragen werden müssen.

In sehr schwierigen Verhandlungen im Laufe des Dienstags und des Mittwochs wurde eine Lösung für diese Situation gesucht. Dabei haben sich alle Mannschaften und die IFA ausschließlich im Interesse der Spielerinnen und Spieler, die um die halbe Welt gereist sind, darauf verständig, den aktuellen Spielplan, der hinsichtlich der veröffentlichen Zeiten weiterhin volle Gültigkeit hat, um Spiele gegen die kurzfristig angereiste Frauen- und Männer-Mannschaft zu ergänzen. Diese Spielergebnisse fließen auch in die Erstellung der Abschlusstabelle der Vorrunde ein, wobei sich für die Finalrunde der besten 5 Mannschaften bei den Herren ausschließlich die besser platzierte indische Mannschaft qualifizieren kann.

Die IFA dankt allen Beteiligten für diese sportliche Lösung im Sinne der jungen Faustballspieler, hat jedoch darauf Wert gelegt, dass diese Ausnahmeregelung ausschließlich für diese Veranstaltung gilt. Beide Verbandsführungen wurden aufgefordert zukünftige unter den Maßstäben einer guten Verbandsführung zusammenzuarbeiten und haben zugestimmt der IFA zeitnah einen Vorschlag für einen einheitlichen indischen Verband zu präsentieren. Unser besonderer Dank gilt dem Ausrichter vom TV Eibach 03 für die Flexibilität kurzfristig ein weiteres Spielfeld eingerichtet und den Transport abgesichert zu haben.

Englisch
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The International Fistball Association has learned in the past month that there are two fistball federations in India.
The older federation is called “Faustball Federation of India”, which over the years caught attention with confirming their participation in several international events and cancelling in the last days before the competition. Furthermore, missing membership fees almost led to the elimination of the federation.
Considering those short time cancellations, a new rival federation was formed in India in spring 2016. This federation was officially registered as “Fistball Federation of India” nationwide.
The newly established federation took all necessary steps in time to participate in the IFA 2016 Fistball U18 World Championships. Therefore, the participation of this federation was confirmed by IFA.
The other, almost eliminated, federation (founded in 2003) organised their trip to Nuremberg in a last-minute move and arrived in Germany on Monday this week, against all expectations from former events. The host club and IFA came to know this action only a few hours before their arrival, as the international transport and accommodation is organized by the participating nations by themselves.
In very difficult negotiation on Tuesday and Wednesday we were trying to get a solution for the surprising situation. All teams and IFA decided only in the interest of youth players travelling around the half world to play fistball and finally concluded that the published schedule will remain as it was and additional games will be added on a third court for matches of all nations against girls and boys team of the Faustball Federation of India. All the results will affect the final result in the preliminary round, while only the better Indian Men’s team can qualify for the Final Round.
IFA thanks all people involved in this negotiation to find a solution in favour of the young players, but we want to emphasize that this special agreement is only valid for this event.
Both federations were called upon to clear the situation in India also regarding good governance and both agreed to provide a concept for further fistball operations in India with one official federation. Many thanks also to the club of TV Eibach 03 for the flexibility to provide an extra court and providing additional transport service.