London 2012 Goalball Schedule Announced

LOCOG revealed the London 2012 Goalball schedule for this year's Paralympic Games. 11 Jun 2012

The Copper Box will host a series of activities on National Paralympic Day.

ⒸLOCOG

By IPC

Tickets are still available for the Paralympic Goalball tournaments, costing just £15 with an Olympic Park Day Pass also included.

The London 2012 Goalball competition schedule has been confirmed, revealing when the teams will play each other in the preliminary rounds of the tournament at the Copper Box at Olympic Park.

The opening game on Thursday 30 August will be Great Britain’s men against world champions and Beijing 2008 silver medallists Lithuania.

In a tough group, the hosts will also have to face Beijing 2008 bronze medallists Sweden on Saturday 1 September. Men’s Paralympic champions China open their campaign on Thursday 30 August against Iran, the only team they suffered defeat to on their way to the 2008 gold medal.

Mirroring the men’s competition, the women’s event begins on Thursday 30 August with hosts Great Britain also facing the team who are both world champions and Beijing 2008 silver medallists – in this case, China. The British women, too, will face Beijing 2008 bronze medallists when they take on Denmark on Tuesday 4 September.

In the second women’s group, Paralympic Champions USA will open against Sweden, who narrowly missed out on a medal in Beijing 2008 and who took the bronze behind USA’s silver at the World Championships.

The men’s and women’s Goalball tournaments will feature 12 and 10 teams, respectively, with each tournament starting as one group of six and one of five. The final group games take place on Tuesday 4 September, with local derbies such as USA-Canada in the women’s tournament and Sweden-Finland in the men’s tournament crucial in deciding final positions before the top two from each group then progress to the quarter-finals the next day.

There are matches every day from 30 August until the two gold medal matches, both of which are being held on 7 September.

The full Paralympic Goalball competition schedule can be viewed here.

Tickets are still available for the Paralympic Goalball tournaments, costing just £15 with an Olympic Park Day Pass also included (£5 for young people and seniors).

Here’s a look at the Goalball groups for London 2012:

Men

Pool A: Lithuania; Great Britain; Finland; Brazil; Turkey; Sweden

Pool B: China; Iran; South Korea; Algeria; Canada; Belgium

Women

Pool C: China; Great Britain; Denmark; Brazil; Finland

Pool D: USA; Sweden; Australia; Japan; Canada