Host China struggles into goalball final

Source: Xinhua | 09-14-2008 11:33

BEIJING -- Debutants China fought all their way to the final of the men's goalball tournament at the BIT Gymnasium on Saturday, beating the United States 4-0.

China took an early 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from Yao Yongquan. Cai Changgui added one for China with seconds to go at halftime.

The second half saw two more goals from Cai and Yao. The United States finally failed to make a score and lost 4-0.

"A win was enough for us today. Because Chen Liangliang has not recovered completely, we have to reserve our strength for the most important game tomorrow," said China's coach Zhang Yong.

Chen Liangliang, the most excellent thrower in China's team, twisted his ankle unexpectedly in warmup on Tuesday.

World champions Lithuania powered past Sweden 10-3 in the other semifinal. China now confront Lithuania for gold medal and the United States take on Sweden for the bronze.

"From the matches against Lithuania in the past, we won the half," said Zhang, "We will go all out tomorrow, though we are disadvantaged for Chen's injury. "

In the men's 5-8 classification round, Slovenia crashed to its second defeat in a row, a 6-4 loss to Denmark. Canada edged Finland 6-5 and now they play in Sunday's playoff for the fifth spot against Denmark. Finland and Slovenia fight in the seventh spot game.

In the women's court, China, the United States, Denmark and Sweden will fight in the semifinals after the pool stage ended on Saturday.

The defending gold medallists from Athens have missed the chance to win their third gold medal in a row after going down to China 1-0.

The halftime saw a 0-0 tie but China broke the deadlock early in the second half with a goal from Lin Shan. Canada had one chance to even the score but Amy Alsop's penalty shot went wide.

With six wins and one draw in the preliminaries, China ranked top and Canada finished in fifth place.

"They are strong, but a little bit old," said China's coach Shao Baolin, "We've secured a place in the top four since we won our third match. It doesn't matter whether we win this match or not. But if we win Canada we can play Sweden in the semifinals. Sweden is easier to play rather than Canada."

The United States, the Athens silver medallists, sealed second spot and a semifinal against Denmark after a 7-4 win over Sweden. Sweden finished fourth, to confront China on Sunday's semifinal.

Denmark won their final preliminary game 3-2 to ensure a semifinals appearance as the third placer, and Brazil were in the sixth position.

The Athens bronze medallists Japan won their second straight game with a 2-1 win over Germany to finish seventh, and Germany were ranked bottom with seven losses out of seven.

Editor:Xiong Qu