IBSA Goalball Asia-Pacific Championships to begin

Top teams from the region will vie for spots at the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships. 12 Nov 2013
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A picture of women celebrating their victory

The Japanese women’s goalball team celebrate their sudden-death victory against Sweden at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

ⒸGetty Images
By Rosanna Haroutounian | For the IPC

Four women’s and six men’s teams will compete for the top spots in the region and qualification spots for the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships in Finland.

On the heels of the European Championships, goalball action will start up again on Wednesday (13 November), when the 2013 IBSA Goalball Asia-Pacific Championships begin in Beijing, China.

Four women’s and six men’s teams will compete for the top spots in the region and qualification spots for the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships in Finland.

The men’s and women’s gold-medal games are scheduled for Sunday (17 November).

Women

Host nation China’s women’s team have already qualified for next year’s World Championships, having won silver at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The women were also gold medallists at the 2010 IBSA Goalball World Championships in Sheffield, Great Britain.

The Japanese women’s goalball team, also competing in these Asia-Pacific Championships, qualified for the 2014 World Championships after winning gold at London 2012.

Iran and Australia, the other women’s teams competing in Beijing, will be vying for the last Asia-Pacific-region women’s spot in next year’s Championships.

Men

The two spots allotted for men’s teams from the Asia-Pacific region at the World Championships remain up for grabs. It’s anyone’s guess which two men’s teams in this competition – China, Australia, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, and Thailand – will be going to Finland.

Based on the new world rankings, China and Iran may have the best chance of claiming the top men’s spots.

China’s men’s team, No. 16 in the world rankings, won silver at the 2010 World Championships, while Iran, No. 13 in the world, won bronze. Both the Chinese and Iranian men were quarter-finalists two years later at the Paralympics in London.