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GOALBALL GOLD FOR LITHUANIA AND CHINA AT IBSA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Lithuania gained revenge for their 2008 Paralympic final defeat against China by winning the men’s event at the 2010 IBSA World Goalball Championships in Sheffield, England.

The Lithuanians dominated the tournament, not dropping a match throughout the pool stages and scoring in double-digits almost at will with superb attacking.

A 4-2 lead at half time in the final was leveled by China at 4-4, but a 9-1 margin over the rest of the match confirmed Lithuania’s dominance.

China’s women had no such problems in their gold medal match as they beat the USA 3-1. The Americans had tied the match with the first shot of the second half, but excellent defence from the Chinese shut their opponents out for the rest of the game.

In the other medal matches Iran snatched the third automatic London 2012 Paralympic spot from the USA with a 5-3 win in the men’s bronze medal game.

And Sweden held their nerve in the women’s bronze to win a nail-biting penalty shootout 2-1. They take home bronze medals and also book a 2012 ticket. The match against Canada had ended 2-2 after overtime.

The men’s placings from fifth to twelfth were confirmed earlier in the day. Spain beat Sweden 4-2 to finish fifth. Algeria came out on top 6-2 against Brazil to take seventh. Canada ended in ninth with a 5-4 win against Slovenia and Hungary took eleventh after a 5-3 victory over Belgium.

For the women Finland and Japan played out an epic match which ended 0-0 after overtime. Finland eventually won 2-1 in a sudden death penalty shootout, which tested the nerve of all those involved.

Denmark claimed seventh with a 4-0 victory over Australia.

Final standings

Men

Gold - Lithuania
Silver - China
Bronze - Iran
4th - USA
5th - Spain
6th - Sweden
7th - Algeria
8th - Brazil
9th - Canada
10th - Slovenia
11th - Hungary
12th - Belgium

Women

Gold - China
Silver - USA
Bronze - Sweden
4th - Canada
5th - Finland
6th - Japan
7th - Denmark
8th - Australia

Click here for more information on the 2010 IBSA Goalball World Championships.


30/6/2010