China Beats Brazil 5-3 for 1st Paralympic Women's Goalball Win

Hosts China snatched their first win in the 2008 Paralympic women's goalball preliminaries at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on Sunday, beating Brazil 5-3.

China fielded their lineup of major players Lin Shan, Chen Fengqing and Xu Juan. In the first minute from the whistle, Brazil scored with a straight throw. Then Lin Shan made a hat-trick and took a 3-1 lead. In the eighth minute, Brazil scored another goal and the first half ended 3-2.

As soon as the second half started, Brazil leveled the score. Then the match went tight and not until the sixth minute China added another. With two minutes left, China scored on a penalty throw and sealed the 5-3 win.

"We win the game, but we did not perform well," said Shao Baolin, China's head coach. "Brazil is also a strong power in the world, but we never met them before in any international tournament, so we are not familiar with them and not used to their tactics, and did not perform our level.

"The first game is very important and we must play step by step into the mood, but we have confidence in our victory," said Shao, adding that the first win was a great encouragement for them.

As for their aim at the Beijing Paralympics, Shao refused to make his comments. "The ball is round, so the tournament is full of changes, and any kind of things would happen. I dare not to make any predictions until the end. "

Brazilian scorer Ana Carolina Custodio said she felt calm about the game. "I have no pressure at all. The purpose we are here is to show the world the Brazilian goalball.

"To win the gold is always what I want. Anyway, that's also the goal that everyone competing here yearns for," she said.

China next play against Germany and Brazil take on Canada.

Goalball, invented in 1946 by Austrian Hanz Lorenzen, was introduced to the world in 1976 at the Paralympics in Toronto, Canada and has been played at every Paralympics since.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2008)