Ukraine won all the matches on their way to winning their second consecutive gold medal in the Football 7-a-side tournament at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
The Ukrainians defeated their neighbors from Russia in a nerve-wracking final match that was decided by two moments of brilliance from captain Volodymyr Antonyuk, who scored twice in additional time to deny Russia.
Lasha Murvanadze scored for Russia deep into additional time, but it was too little, too late as they have to settle with the silver in what becomes their fourth consecutive Football 7-a-side medal at the Paralympics, after their silver in Atlanta 1996, gold in Sydney 2000 and bronze in Athens 2004.
Prior to that match, both Ukraine and Russia had won all their matches and proved to be one step above the rest of the teams in the competition.
Russia showed their main strengths in their fast style, long range shots and a great array of options at set-pieces, while Ukraine played attractive offensive football, based on a constant exchange of passes between their talented forwards.
The bronze medal went to Iran, a team that has been showing great improvement over the last few years. They finished in second place at the last World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007 and on Tuesday they made history as they took home their first ever Paralympic medal in Football 7-a-side.
They did so by defeating Brazil 4-0 with a brilliant Abdolreza Karimzadeh and a late strike by Moslem Akbari.
Brazil saw their run of two consecutive Paralympic Games with medals in Football 7-a-side interrupted after they finished their campaign with three consecutive defeats (to Russia in their last preliminary round match, to Ukraine in the semifinals and to Iran in the Bronze medal match).
The Netherlands and Ireland battled it out for fifth place. The Dutch came from behind to beat the Irish and equal the placing they got at the last World Championship. They were far from regaining their form from the late 1980s and the 1990s, when they won three consecutive Paralympic Gold medals (Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996), but they came to Beijing with a young and talented team that can only improve.
Ireland improve their seventh place from Athens 2004 and finished in what is considered a very good sixth place and showed some really talented players in midfielders Gary Messett and Luke Evans.
Great Britain finished in seventh place in what was their return to the Football 7-a-side competition at the Paralympics, last appearing in Barcelona 1992.
The commanding presence of Matthew Dimbylow of Great Britain was the highlight of a team that drew Ireland 1-1 in their last preliminary round match and was forced to play for seventh place on virtue of an inferior goal-difference with the Irish.
China was the absolute novice in the tournament and they put together a team of young players that saw Beijing 2008 as the perfect opportunity to gain the experience they need for future competitions.
Liu Bo's goal from behind the midfield line against the Netherlands will remain as the best moment in the tournament for a team that lost all their five matches.
Iran's Abdolreza Karimzadeh was the top-scorer for the tournament with eight goals, followed by Russia's Andrey Kuvaev and Ukraine's Ivan Shkvarlo, both with seven.
(BOCOG September 17, 2008)