Defending gold medallists Denmark snatched their first win for the men's goalball tournament of the Beijing Paralympics at BIT Gymnasium on Tuesday, crashing Finland 11-4.
The win was really a relief for Denmark after drawing with Spain 2-2 and losing to Slovenia 4-2 in the first two matches.
Peter Weichel stood out with five goals for Denmark and his teammate Martin Pedersen contributed four.
Denmark coach Lehrmann Bruun, who asked for time-outs twice at the second leading half, said he was worried that the players were too excited at that moment. "I asked them not to make mistakes. If they make more mistakes, Finland might win," he said.
Canada, who were seeking their third gold medal in a row, claimed the maiden victory for the women's tournament by beating Japan 3-0, which kept their quarterfinal hopes alive after one draw and one loss.
Playing a full-time match for the first time, Contessa Sott said she got a lot of energy built up on the bench. As for the confidence to make three straight wins in the Paralympics, she said, "We're gonna go for it. We have to do well in all of our games. One game at a time, and one shot at a time."
The Japanese, bronze medallists at Athens Paralympics, were unable to score for the second time in their three matches.
Gold favorites Lithuania kept their perfect record by decimating Spain 10-0 in Pool A preliminaries.
Beating Canada 11-2, China remained the only unbeaten run in men's Pool B and kept a medal hope possible. China's key attacker Chen Liangliang, who twisted his ankle in the warming up, was substituted after 15 minutes, during which he scored two goals.
China's head coach Zhang Yong said the match was somewhat affected by Chen's injury. "We performed only 30 percent of our normal level, but Canada was not offensive, so a win was enough for us."
The Chinese women's team notched up their third straight win by blanking the United States 4-0. It was a close match and not until the 5th minute China opened the scoring. China took a 2-0 lead at halftime. In the second half, China had two more goals and broadened the score to 4-0. With only one minute to go, America got a penalty throw, but the only chance was denied by China's Lin Shan.
"We did very well and we were in good form today," said China's head coach Shao Baolin.
"We never really won a match against America in the past, but today we win, and win at home," said the first goal scorer Xu Juan with big smile on her face.
The other men's Pool A match saw Slovenia downed Belgium 6-5.
In men's Pool B, the Athens silver medallists Sweden triumphed over Iran 10-5. The United States, the Athens bronze medallists, beat Brazil 6-4 to clinch their first win.
In women's court, Sweden went into the game favorites after drawing with Canada and beating Japan, however, they went down to Denmark 2-1. Brazil, defeating Germany 3-1, emerged as a good chance of making the semifinals. After three losses in a row Germany had no chance to qualify for the finals.
The Chinese men's team next confront Brazil and the women's take on Sweden on Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2008)