Qualification Update for 2023 World Championships
6 Teams took part in a successful event hosted by Korean Lacrosse Association (KLA). The tournament had to be moved from New Zealand due to the immigration issues in that country caused by Covid. In a relatively short period of less than 6 months, KLA were able to produce a professional well run tournament.
Over 5 days with 3 games per day, 4 teams attempted to qualify for next year’s World Championship in San Diego. The result went down to the final game on the final day. Of the 15 games, 7 were decided by 1 goal difference, with one going to golden goal extra time.
The 4 countries that qualified were Korea, Hong Kong/China, New Zealand, Philippines. China losing out although having the same points as Philippines but having lost to them when they met. Chinese Taipei were the other team to miss out.
In terms of the inaugural delivery of all games via Live Streaming KLA (with support from WL & APLU) must be congratulated for their very professional, 5 camera & 2 prime commentators, production of all games and their legacy left upon YouTube. It was fitting that the Closing Ceremony recognised the outstanding voluntary efforts of Chris Jinno & Jensen Chow for their commentary contributions behind the professional camera crews.
It must be stated that KLA has once again (for the third time) hosted a very professional Lacrosse Event, with special recognition of the outstanding efforts of the KLA Event Directors (namely Hyuna Kim & Seungae Yeo) in setting up and delivering this Lacrosse Event.
The success of the social media and live streaming can be seen from the fact that there were 133,000 total exposures and 14,000 views. This does not include events in countries where a number of people viewed the games live in a club type setting.
There were 14 on field officials from a number of APLU countries as well as Argentina, Germany and United Kingdom. To help develop and maintain consistency there were 3 officials coaches (plus one extra for last 2 days). Don Blacklock, Technical Director for World Lacrosse, was also in attendance as the representative of the governing body. Most of the APLU directors were present to help where needed to ensure the success of the excellent tournament.
As a first for the APLU, formal Anti-Doping was conducted. As the sport expands worldwide with inclusion in events such as the World Games and hopefully the Olympics going forward this is an important step to maintain the integrity of the game.
Congratulations again to the 4 countries and KLA for their successful hosting.
