Brazil and the USA crowned goalball world champions

Brazil, who remained undefeated throughout the tournament, were dominant in the final, beating Finland 9-1 (3-0) to win gold.

Brazil’s men and the USA’s women have been crowned world champions at the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships in Espoo, Finland.

In a repeat of the final from the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Brazil exacted revenge on Finland, who beat them to the gold medal in London, to become world champions for the first time in their history.

Meanwhile in the women’s competition, the USA achieved their fifth world championship medal in a row by securing gold against Russia.

The prize was greater than just securing a medal at these world championships, however, with all medalists becoming the first teams to secure their place at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

With USA securing bronze in the men’s against Lithuania, and Turkey taking the bronze in the women’s against Japan, they have also booked their place in Rio.

Men’s

Brazil, who remained undefeated throughout the tournament, were dominant in the final, beating Finland 9-1 (3-0) to win gold.

In a battle of the two meanest defences in the tournament - with Paralympic gold medalists Finland conceding just 26 goals to Brazil’s 27 - it was shaping up to be a low scoring affair.

But Brazil had also been free scoring throughout the tournament with 67 goals, led by Leomon Silva, who starred for the South Americans, scoring 51 goals in total.

They were ruthless in the semi-finals, beating Lithuania 14-4. Whereas Finland battled through to the final with a 6-3 victory over the USA.

And Brazil’s scoring instinct continued into the final, with Silva grabbing another six goals as his team were crowned 2014 IBSA Goalball world champions for the first time.

In the battle for the Bronze medal, the USA defeated 2010 world champions Lithuania in a tightly fought 4-2 victory.

Brazil’s Silva topped the scoring charts, ahead of his compatriot Ricardo Marquez in joint second with the Czech Republic’s Jan Bosek on 30, whilst Lithuania’s Genrik Pavliukianec came third with 29.

Women’s

The USA returned to the top of podium at the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships with a closely fought 3-0 victory over Russia.

After a struggle in the group stage, which saw the USA lose three of their opening five games, they improved dramatically in the playoffs by first beating Brazil and then Paralympic champions Japan on their way to the final.

Russia’s route to the final also was not an easy progression, losing one and drawing another in the group stages.

However, an amazing performance in the quarter-finals saw them defeat 2010 world champions and Paralympic silver medalists China, before narrowly beating Turkey in the semi-finals to reach the gold medal game.

But despite boasting the second best defence in the tournament, Russia couldn’t hold out as the USA proved too strong in the final.

Speaking to the official 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships website, the USA’s Coach Kenneth Armbruster said he was delighted with his team’s performance.

“The girls did everything that I asked them to do,” he said.

“We came here with three goals to make it through the crossover, put ourselves in the position to go to Rio and the last step was to hear our national anthem at the end. They came through perfectly and we executed exactly what we wanted to do.”

In the bronze medal game, there was another shock as Turkey then defeated Japan to take third place and qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic games.

Their star player was Sevda Altunoluk, who topped the scoring charts with 31 goals, ahead of Israel’s Lihi Ben David (21) in second and Russia’s Anastasiia Mazur in third (17).

Full results and standings can be found on the official 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships website.