IBSA Goalball World Championships: Iran Fails to Advance to Semis
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran lost to Belgium on Friday and failed to book a place in the 2018 International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball World Championships semi-final.
The Persians suffered an 8-1 defeat to Belgium at the Baltiska Hallen Venue in the southern Swedish city of Malmo.
Iran started the competition with a 12-2 win over Egypt but lost to Brazil 7-4 in its second match.
Team Melli drew 8-8 with USA in its third match and then beat Canada 14-6, Japan 11-8 and Czech Republic 9-8 respectively.
In its last preliminary round match, Iran was defeated against Germany 14-4 in Group B and advanced to the quarter-final as the third team.
The IBSA Goalball World Championships is the biggest competition on the sport's calendar.
A total of 28 teams - 16 men's and 12 women's - will compete for the coveted titles.
The men's teams have been split into two sections with Group A made up of Lithuania, Algeria, China, Belgium, Argentina, Sweden, Australia and Turkey and Group B comprising Iran, USA, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Egypt, Czech Republic and Japan.
The group stages were held from Sunday until Thursday (June 7).
The medalists from both the men's and women's event will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
