Algeria, Egypt play for goalball African titles

Both Algeria and Egypt’s men and women’s goalball teams will play for their respective gold medals in the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) Goalball African Regional Championships, on Friday (4 March) in Algiers, Algeria. The winners will also earn the respective qualification spots at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

During Thursday’s (3 March) semi-finals, the Algerian men’s team eliminated Tunisia 13-3.

Algerian team captain Mohamed Mokrane said: “We had to be vigilant. We managed the game before an opponent that we beat in the first round. Now, we have the final on Friday against Egypt, who are still formidable. We take our opponents seriously and have to be careful because it is a Paralympic qualification.”

Egypt went through having claimed victory over Morocco after a tight first half. Egypt only led by one goal at halftime but soon took the advantage to finish with 11 goals to Morocco’s nine.

“It was a very difficult match,” Egyptian team captain Mohamed Abdelmajid said. “The Moroccans created problems for us, especially in the first period. But the bottom line is the qualification for the final.”

Morocco’s top player Youness Khatibi said: "We had the qualification in hand, if we had scored all penalties that have been given us (six in all), we would have reached a historic final for us. That's the sport we I think we left a good impression and the future is ahead of us. "