The action in the Paralympic goalball competition was electric yesterday and the crowds at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium responded accordingly - by not making a single sound.

It might seem an odd response, but keeping quiet is a key requirement for fans of the game, as the people who play it are all visually impaired and rely on their hearing to locate the ball, which contains a bell.

Watching yesterday's game between Germany and Brazil was Mariana Gomes, who works for a blind charity in Brazil and is the girlfriend of one of the team coaches.

"This is the perfect place to hold goalball games," she said.

"Everybody is really polite and trying to be quiet."

Although goalball was designed for the blind and partially sighted, people with unimpaired vision can also compete, although they have to wear visors to ensure fair play.

The game is similar to handball, with each three-member team attempting to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposition's 9-m-wide net. Each player can act as a shooter or goalkeeper.

During yesterday's match, a team of eight volunteers wandered among the crowds, holding up signs that read "Quiet, please" and "No flashes, please" in both Chinese and English.

But the silence did not last long.

Shortly after the start of the game, Brazil's No 5 fired his team into the lead and the crowd erupted into loud cheers, only to fall back into total silence a few moments later.

"It's really great, because I know the Chinese fans are not used to watching goalball," Gomes said.

Willy Carpels, coach of the Belgian team, was equally impressed. "The atmosphere is fantastic. The volunteers did a terrific job," he told China Daily after his team's game against Slovenia later yesterday.

Wang Lanrun, operations supervisor of the "spectacular services" team said the 32 volunteers at the gymnasium had been preparing for the Paralympics ever since the Olympic volleyball competition ended there on Aug 20.

"We have attached great importance to the Paralympic Games, not only because two gold medals will be won here, but also because we want to present the best service possible to all the athletes," Wang said.

Shi Hang, a freshman at Beijing Institute of Technology who watched yesterday's matches said it was his second time at a goalball game, after watching the "Good Luck Beijing" test events at the same venue last year.

"The games were quite interesting," he said.

"Obviously it's not as fierce as the Olympics, but it has a different attraction.

"Goalball players aren't challenging the limits of humankind, but their own limits, and I want to support them in that," he said.

(China Daily September 10, 2008)