A PENARTH woman has made her international debut for the Ireland Korfball team in France.

Sarah Halpin, 25, represented Ireland at the preliminary round of the International Korfball Federation European Championships in St Etienne, France last month.

Korfball started in the Netherlands and can be considered a cross between netball and basketball, with Korf in Dutch meaning basket.

The sport is a mixed game of eight players, four men and four women, with two of each gender being in defence and two in attack.

Other than being in attack/defence, players have no fixed positions or roles. When a team has scored two goals, defenders then become attackers and vice-versa.

Players scores goals by getting a football-sized ball into a 3.5 metre high basket and the emphasis is on team play.

Sarah was spotted by Ireland selectors while playing in London earlier this year and qualified for the team as her father, Shawn Halpin, is Irish.

Sarah learned to play netball at St John's College in Cardiff and has played for Cardiff University which prepared her to Korfball.

During the championships Ireland played against Wales, Sweden, Turkey, Catalunya, and France in a six team round-robin tournament.

In a dramatic final match, Ireland had to beat France to progress, but they lost in the last seconds by a goal, having pulled back from a three goal deficit to level the scores at full-time.

In the UK Korfball is especially in demand at universities.

There is always a welcome for new players, and for more information about the sport please visit the Welsh Korfball website at welshkorfball.org