Once one page closes, two are ready to open. It’s time for the highlight of the World Skate Games Italia 2024 in Novara, the start of the Senior competitions, the best of the best of Rink Hockey of the last two years. The two stages will be the Pala Igor and the Pala Dal Lago, the first is an arena with 3600 seats, the second with 2000. From Thursday the PalaIgor will instead be the scene of all phases of the finals of the Men’s and Women’s “A” World Championships.
Sixteen Nations will compete for two world titles. The Iberians, Spain and Portugal, are the top favorites to win the world title, but the holders of the trophy, Argentina, would like to reconfirm themselves even far from the wonderful event of San Juan 2022, with 8000 people attending the two finals, then won against the European ones. But there will be several nations that will have the role of outsiders, primarily the host Italy but also France, both especially in men’s competition. There will be seven days of very intense matches and the response from the public was not long in coming given the over 2500 people present at the PalaIgor in Saturday evening’s final between Portugal and Spain. The first day will immediately be full-throttle for the men: Spain-France (13:00) and Italy-Chile (21:00). It will be an immediately intense qualification because the last ranked teams in the two groups will be relegated to the Intercontinental Championship and will not participate in the playoffs for the world title.
In addition to the sixteen national teams that will play for the title, the Intercontinental Championship will feature eight teams competing in the Men’s Championship, where four continents will be represented, Europe, America, Africa and Oceania. Whoever wins the qualifying round will enter the quarter-finals for the world title and therefore competitive spirit will reign supreme. In this case the qualifying phase will be played on two venues, Pala Igor and Pala Dal Lago, again from 9:00 and 11:00 simultaneously.
As far as the Women’s is concerned, 11 teams have registered, an absolute record for the competition (19 in total). It is played at PalaNovarello every day from 10:00 to 18:00, where five continents are represented, Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
Another 11 teams will compete for places from 17th to 27th in the Challengers Championship which will be played at the PalaSartorio in Novara. Also in this case the game takes place every day from 10:00 to 18:00 and the five continents will also be represented.
All matches of these 5 world championships will be live on www.worldskate.tv and can be downloaded on demand. The highlights will be produced at the Pala Igor and Pala Dal Lago venues. Most of the matches will be photographed and all the photos can be seen on social media. Any federations or media would like to have the complete photo gallery, you can request it at novara.press@worldskategamesitalia2024.org
Senior Women World Championship
Group A: Argentina, Portugal, France, Colombia
Group B: Spain, Italy, Chile, Great Britain
1st matchday – Qualification – Monday 16/9/2024 – Venue: Pala Dal Lago
13:00 – Group A – Portugal x Colombia
15:00 – Group B – Spain x Chile
17:00 – Group A – Argentina x France
19:00 – Group B – Italy x Great Britain
Senior Women Intercontinental Championship
Group C: Brazil, U.S.A., Japan, India, Germany, New Zealand
Group D: Australia, Egypt, Mexico, Netherlands, PR China
1st matchday – Qualification – Monday 16/9/2024 – Venue: Pala Novarello
10:00 – Group C – U.S.A. x Germany
12:00 – Group D – Egypt x PR China
14:00 – Group C – Japan x New Zealand
16:00 – Group D – Netherlands x Australia
18:00 – Group C – India x Brazil
Senior Men World Championship
Group A: Argentina, Portugal, Angola, U.S.A.
Group B: Spain, Italy, France, Chile
1st matchday – Qualification – Monday 16/9/2024 – Venue: Pala Igor
13:00 – Group B – Spain x France
15:15 – Group A – Argentina x Angola
18:30 – Group A – Portugal x U.S.A.
21:00 – Group B – Italy x Chile
Senior Men Intercontinental Championship
Group C: Switzerland, Germany, Colombia, Australia
Group D: Egypt, Great Britain, Andorra, Brazil
1st matchday – Qualification – Monday 16/9/2024 – Venue: Pala Dal Lago
09:00 – Group D – Egypt x Andorra
11:00 – Group D – Great Britian x Brazil
1st matchday – Qualification – Monday 16/9/2024 – Venue: Pala Igor
09:00 – Group C – Switzerland x Colombia
11:00 – Group C – Germany x Australia
Senior Men Challenger Championship
Group E: Mexico, Israel, Uruguay, Mozambique, Japan, New Zealand
Group F: South Africa, India, Austria, PR China, Netherlands
1st matchday – Qualification – Monday 16/9/2024 – Venue: Pala Sartorio
10:00 – Group E – Israel x Japan
12:00 – Group F – India x Netherlands
14:00 – Group E – Uruguay x New Zealand
16:00 – Group F – PR China x South Africa
18:00 – Group E – Mozambique x Mexico
