Iran and China win goalball titles at Incheon 2014

Japan also win two bronze medals on the final day of action at the Asian Para Games. 25 Oct 2014
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Players from the Iranian goalball team play in the goal medal match at the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games.

Iran's men's goalball team won the Asian Para Games title after a 10-0 victory against China at Incheon 2014.

ⒸIncheon 2014
By IBSA

But with only one minute to go until the end of the game, Wei Zhang scored her second goal for the match with a powerful shot off the left winger’s feet.

The Iranian men’s team and China’s women both won top honours in goalball on Friday (24 October) at the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games.

In the women’s gold medal game, Both Iran and China entered undefeated.

China scored the first goal less than a minute in - a bounce ball from centre made it over the Iranian left winger and from this point on the pressure was on. Three minutes later and China scored again, this time off a 10 second penalty.

With four minutes to go in the first half, Salahizadeh took a clean shot between the Chinese centre and right winger to give Iran some hope heading into the second.

But with only one minute to go until the end of the game, Wei Zhang scored her second goal for the match with a powerful shot off the left winger’s feet. Both teams had another chance to score with the ball just going wide of the post. Zhang’s goal confirmed China as the title winners with a 3-1 victory and cemented their continued dominance in Asia.

The Japanese women claimed bronze with a 6-1 victory over Thailand in a game that was full of defensive errors.

The men’s gold medal game saw Iran back to their best, scoring 7 of their 10 goals against China in the second half alone.

The first half saw the two sides enter the break with Iran 3-0 up. China had two chances to score but they could not capitalise on a long ball penalty and the Iranians were able to stop another ball just in time.

It took four minutes into the second half before Iran scored again and ran away with the game. Too many high ball penalties let the Chinese down and Iran showed why they remain top of the Asian region.

South Korea, coming from a disappointing loss against China in the semi-finals, lost out early to Japan in the men’s bronze medal game by conceding two goals within three minutes.

But South Korea came back, scoring off a long ball penalty and then cleanly to level the score. A long ball penalty then allowed them to take the lead before scoring twice; one between the centre and left winger and the other off a high ball penalty.

Then with two minutes to go in the half, Japan fought back with a ball that was deflected by the centre player into the goal.

Into the second half, South Korea went up 6-3 following a high ball penalty but this only appeared to spur the Japanese on, with team scoring two goals within 30 seconds.

It took another five minutes before Japan could equalise following a defensive mistake from the South Korean right winger.

Both teams went out hard to seal the winning goal but it was Japan who scored with a minute to go to make the final score 7-6.

The Asian Para Games has seen athletes from 41 countries competing across 23 sports and concludes on Friday (24 October).