Goalball at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
| Goalball at the XIII Paralympic Games | |
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Paralympic Goalball | |
| Venue | Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium |
| Dates | 7–14 September 2008 |
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Goalball at the 2008 Summer Paralympics was held in the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium from September 7 to September 14. The competition consisted of men's and women's team events, and what had been billed as one of the most open tournaments certainly lived up to expectations.
In the women's gold medal game, the lead changed hands five times, with the USA outlasting China by a score of 6–5, with never more than one goal in it. The winning goal came from Asya Miller with less than a minute to go.
The gold medal in the men's game was even more dramatic. Lithuania, the current world champions, took advantage of a clutch of penalties in the first half to jump ahead of China by 6 goals to 2 at the half, and looked to be holding on despite a steady comeback. With only 50 seconds on the clock, the Chinese were two goals behind (6–8) but managed to overturn the deficit with three goals in 30 seconds to take the gold 9–8, sending the packed BIT Gymnasium into rapture.
Medalists
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men |  China (CHN) Bao Daolei Cai Changgui Chen Liangliang Du Jinran Yang Chunhong Yao Yongquan |
 Lithuania (LTU) Arvydas Juchna Saulius Leonavicius Nerijus Montvydas Genrik Pavliukianec Zydrunas Simkus Marius Zibolis |
 Sweden (SWE) Mikael Akerberg Jimmy Bjorkstrand Stefan Gahne Niklas Hultqvist Oskar Kuus Fatmir Seremeti |
| Women |  United States (USA) Jen Armbruster Lisa Banta Jackie Barnes Jessie Lorenz Asya Miller Robin Theryoung |
China (CHN) Chen Fengqing Fan Feifei Lin Shan Wang Ruixue Wang Shasha Xu Juan |
 Denmark (DEN) Karina Joergensen Maria Larsen Mette Nissen Kamilla Ryding Ninna Thomsen Lykke Vedsted |
Classification
Players are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability. Visually impaired athletes in classes B1 through B3 can take part in goalball. Partially sighted players wear blindfolds so that they compete on equal terms with blind players.
Qualification
There will be 12 men's teams and 8 women's teams taking part in this sport.
Men's
- Qualified by 2006 IBSA World Goalball Championships
- Qualified by goalball event of 2007 IBSA World Games
- Qualified as host nation
Women's
- Qualified by 2006 IBSA World Goalball Championships(*)
- Qualified by goalball event of 2007 IBSA World Games(*)
- Qualified as host nation
Note: The slots allocated to 2006 World Championships is 4, but as host nation China PR win the silver medal, so the 1 unused slots is allocated to 2007 World Games, so the slots of 2007 World Games add to 4.
Men's
Competition Format
The twelve men's teams were divided into two even groups for a single round robin group stage. The top four teams of each group will advance to the quarter finals to compete for 1st through 8th place, while the last two teams of each group compete for 9th through 12th place. All matches in the second stage are knock-out format.
Group stage
| Qualified for the quarterfinals |
Group A
| Team | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Slovenia (SLO) |
5 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 24 | +11 |
| Lithuania (LTU) |
4 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 18 | +32 |
| Denmark (DEN) |
2 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 26 | +3 |
 Finland (FIN) |
2 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 41 | −15 |
.svg.png){kind=small} Belgium (BEL) |
1 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 42 | −9 |
 Spain (ESP) |
0 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 42 | −22 |
| 2008-09-07 | ||
| Lithuania | 9 – 5 | Belgium |
| Denmark | 2 – 2 | Spain |
| Slovenia | 7 – 2 | Finland |
| 2008-09-08 | ||
| Finland | 5 – 15 | Lithuania |
| Slovenia | 4 – 2 | Denmark |
| Belgium | 12 – 6 | Spain |
| 2008-09-09 | ||
| Finland | 4 – 11 | Denmark |
| Lithuania | 10 – 0 | Spain |
| Belgium | 5 – 6 | Slovenia |
| 2008-09-10 | ||
| Spain | 9 – 11 | Slovenia |
| Finland | 8 – 5 | Belgium |
| Denmark | 1 – 10 | Lithuania |
| 2008-09-11 | ||
| Denmark | 13 – 6 | Belgium |
| Lithuania | 6 – 7 | Slovenia |
| Spain | 3 – 7 | Finland |
Group B
| Team | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China (CHN) |
4 | 1 | 0 | 57 | 25 | +32 |
| Sweden (SWE) |
4 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 30 | +11 |
 Canada (CAN) |
2 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 30 | −3 |
| United States (USA) |
2 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 37 | −21 |
 Iran (IRI) |
2 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 34 | −5 |
 Brazil (BRA) |
1 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 39 | −14 |
| 2008-09-07 | ||
| Sweden | 8 – 6 | Brazil |
| Canada | 9 – 5 | Iran |
| United States | 3 – 13 | China |
| 2008-09-08 | ||
| China | 13 – 8 | Sweden |
| United States | 2 – 8 | Canada |
| Brazil | 5 – 8 | Iran |
| 2008-09-09 | ||
| China | 11 – 2 | Canada |
| Sweden | 10 – 5 | Iran |
| Brazil | 4 – 6 | United States |
| 2008-09-10 | ||
| Iran | 3 – 4 | United States |
| China | 14 – 4 | Brazil |
| Canada | 5 – 6 | Sweden |
| 2008-09-11 | ||
| Canada | 3 – 6 | Brazil |
| Sweden | 9 – 1 | United States |
| Iran | 8 – 6 | China |
Tournament bracket
| Quarterfinals (2008-09-12) |
Semifinals (2008-09-13) |
Gold medal game (2008-09-14) | |||||||||||
| 1 | Lithuania |
10 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Canada |
0 | |||||||||||
| Lithuania |
10 | ||||||||||||
| Sweden |
3 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Sweden |
4 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Denmark |
2 | |||||||||||
| Lithuania |
8 | ||||||||||||
| China |
9 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Slovenia |
2 | |||||||||||
| 6 | United States |
4 | |||||||||||
| United States |
0 | Bronze medal game | |||||||||||
| China |
4 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | China |
7 | Sweden |
5 | |||||||||
| 7 | Finland |
6 | United States |
2 | |||||||||
11/12 Classification
2008-09-12
| Spain | 3 – 7 | Brazil |
Women's
Competition format
The eight women's teams will play a single round robin tournament. The top four teams advance to the semi-final to compete for 1st through 4th place.
Preliminary stage
| Qualified for the semifinals |
| Team | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China (CHN) |
6 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 7 | +14 |
| Brazil (BRA) |
2 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 24 | −3 |
| Canada (CAN) |
2 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 13 | +2 |
| Sweden (SWE) |
3 | 1 | 3 | 30 | 27 | +3 |
| United States (USA) |
4 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 11 | +7 |
 Japan (JPN) |
2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 16 | −8 |
| Denmark (DEN) |
4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 9 | +4 |
 Germany (GER) |
0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 27 | −19 |
| 2008-09-07 | ||
| China | 5 – 3 | Brazil |
| Canada | 3 – 3 | Sweden |
| United States | 2 – 0 | Japan |
| Denmark | 4 – 1 | Germany |
| 2008-09-08 | ||
| United States | 2 – 0 | Denmark |
| China | 3 – 0 | Germany |
| Brazil | 6 – 5 | Canada |
| Sweden | 4 – 1 | Japan |
| 2008-09-09 | ||
| Canada | 3 – 0 | Japan |
| Brazil | 3 – 1 | Germany |
| Sweden | 1 – 2 | Denmark |
| China | 4 – 0 | United States |
| 2008-09-10 | ||
| Germany | 0 – 1 | Canada |
| Japan | 1 – 2 | Denmark |
| Sweden | 3 – 5 | China |
| Brazil | 2 – 2 | United States |
| 2008-09-11 | ||
| Japan | 1 – 3 | China |
| Brazil | 4 – 5 | Sweden |
| Germany | 0 – 4 | United States |
| Canada | 2 – 2 | Denmark |
| 2008-09-12 | ||
| United States | 1 – 1 | Canada |
| Denmark | 0 – 0 | China |
| Japan | 3 – 1 | Brazil |
| Germany | 5 – 10 | Sweden |
| 2008-09-13 | ||
| Denmark | 3 – 2 | Brazil |
| Germany | 1 – 2 | Japan |
| United States | 7 – 4 | Sweden |
| Canada | 0 – 1 | China |
Tournament bracket
| Semifinals | |||||||||
| United States |
4 | ||||||||
| Denmark |
3 | Gold medal game | |||||||
| United States |
6 | ||||||||
| Semifinals | China |
5 | |||||||
| China |
1 (3) | ||||||||
| Sweden |
1 (2) | Bronze medal game | |||||||
| Denmark |
3 | ||||||||
| Sweden |
2 | ||||||||
China-Sweden PSC
References
- "Schedules and Results – Goalball". The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
External links
- Official site of the 2008 Summer Paralympics
- The Audio Sports Network produced live audio broadcasts of every game of the tournament, and you can listen to the free mp3 audio archive by clicking on this link
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