China replace Brazil as women's No.1 goalball team

China is the new leader of the women’s goalball world rankings after overtaking Brazil, but the Rio 2016 hosts remain the top team in the men’s world rankings, as announced by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) on 8 June.

The Canadian women’s team also moves up two places to 5th, whilst Australia climb to 9th ahead of Germany. The top ten is now made up by China, Brazil, Rio 2016 gold medallists Turkey, USA, Canada, Japan, Russia*, Israel, Australia and Germany.

Other teams which made significant moves were El Salvador (30th to 25th), Honduras (34th to 29th) and Panama (35th to 31st).

There was only one change amongst the men’s top ten teams, with Canada moving up to 9th and Finland dropping out to 11th. Brazil is now followed by Paralympic champions Lithuania, Turkey, China, USA, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Sweden, Canada and Iran.

The world rankings are expected to change again over the next few months, with several regional competitions set to take place.

The Asia/Pacific Championships will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 19-27 August, whilst the European Championships will be contested in Lahti, Finland, from 18-22 September.

From 14-24 October, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, will host the African Championships, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, will again host a major Para sport competition when it stages the Americas Championships between 26 November-3 December.

More information is available on IBSA’s website.

*Editor’s note: The International Paralympic Committee suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee on 7 August 2016 for its inability to fulfil its IPC membership responsibilities and obligations, in particular its obligation to comply with the IPC Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code (to which it is also a signatory). As a result of the suspension, Russian athletes cannot enter IPC sanctioned events or competitions, including the Paralympic Games. For further information please click here.