Gold medal favorites China and Lithuania both had comfortable wins in the fourth round of the Men's Goalball tournament at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on Wednesday, while Slovenia also remains undefeated after four preliminary rounds.
Slovenia v Spain
Slovenia maintained its unbeaten record after four rounds by defeating Spain in a high scoring game on Wednesday. Slovenia raced to a 4-1 lead and looked set for a big win, but Spain caught up and tied the score at 5-5 before eventually losing 11-9. For Slovenia, Matej Ledinek scored three goals, Ivan Vinkler managed four and Dejan Pirc made three. Spain shared the scoring around, with one from Thomas Rubio, four from Jose Perez, two from Vicente Galiana and two from Jesus Nazaret Santana in their best return for the tournament.
USA v Iran
The United States kept its hopes of making the Men's Goalball quarterfinals alive with a hard fought 4-3 win over Iran. Iran raced to a 3-0 lead after a first half hat trick by Mohsen Jalilvand. Chris Dodds tied the score halfway through the second half and the comeback was complete with 90 seconds remaining when Tyler Merren scored his third goal to give the US the lead.
Finland v Belgium
The winless Finland team stunned Belgium on Wednesday to take the game 8-5.
Finland led 4-1 when Belgium brought on their top scorer for the tournament, Youssef Bihi, who had started on the bench. The game was poised at 5-4, but Finland scored 3 times in 30 seconds to put the game beyond doubt. Jarno Mattila, the leading Finnish scorer for the game, made four goals for his team.
China v Brazil
China scored 14 goals, passing double figures for the fourth time in four games to crush Brazil in their encounter.
Brazil scored first but Yao Yongquan of China replied with three goals in 40 seconds. Three minutes into the game, China led 6-1 and it was just a matter of time before they got 10 in front of Brazil to end the game. The game finished with six and a half minutes left on the clock. Alexsander Celente scored three for Brazil to bring their final tally to four goals for the game.
Lithuania v Denmark
Lithuania dominated Denmark from start to finish in their battle on Wednesday. The twin towers of Marius Zibolis and Genrik Pavliukianec together scored eight goals in a dominant display. Denmark scored a late goal through substitute Jonas Elkjaer to prevent Lithuania recording another 10-0 shutout. Arvydas Juchna and Nerijus Montvydas each scored when they came on late in the game for Lithuania.
Sweden v Canada
Sweden withstood a late surge by Canada to win its third straight game 6-5 and assure them of a finals berth. Sweden led 2-0 in the first half and had the same buffer at half time with the score at 3-1.
Canada leveled the match at 4-4 after a penalty from Mario Caron, but in the 15 seconds after his goal, Niklas Hultqvist of Sweden scored his fifth and teammate Jimmy Bjorkstrand made it 6-4. A penalty against Sweden for noise with a minute to go gave Canada 6-5 and a chance to tie it up, but Sweden held on for the win.
(BOCOG September 11, 2008)