Alexey Baryaev has been selected as the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball Technical Delegate for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
 
Baryaev has been a referee for many years and also carried out the Technical Delegate role at European and Americas Championships in 2017.
 
“It is a big honour for me to get this position and also a huge responsibility!” Baryaev said. “I’m ready to do many things for goalball development and this opportunity came to me surprisingly.
 
“The Paralympic Games are the main competition not only for athletes but also for referees, staff and volunteers. It will leave a mark in my memory for a long time!”
 
A nomination for the position is made by IBSA to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The role of the Technical Delegate then sees much of the work takes place behind the scenes.
Baryaev is also the Sport Director on the IBSA Goalball Committee and has already been working with the Organising Committee in several areas.
 
“It is a long list of duties and guidelines before/during/after competitions. The TD [Technical Delegate] is responsible for liaising with the local organising committee prior to the event and during the competition, for ensuring the necessary standards in all technical matters at the tournament. I’m getting good back-up from Kari Räsänen [Chairperson of the IBSA Goalball Committee], who was the TD at the London and Rio Paralympics, 2014 World Championships in Espoo and IBSA World Games in Korea 2015.
 
“So far we have been discussing with Tokyo 2020 the venue, warm-up courts, game concept/schedule, more about the big picture.”
 
Before Baryaev’s appointment, Räsänen began working with the organisers in 2015. A delegation from Tokyo 2020 then attended the Rio 2016 Paralympics to observe the competition set-up.
 
Now that the Technical Delegate has been confirmed, the work can really begin.
 
“I realised that you need to know for this position not only the rules, you need to know also all regulations,” Baryaev said. “We have a subcommittee with a lot of experience over the years. We have created a TD guidelines booklet, describing how the TD and hosting organistion are working together, where are the limits for both parties. Also, the IPC’s new SDP (sport delivery plan) makes our work more systematic. We have a good team in subcommittee, so the TD is not working alone.”
 
Ten men’s and 10 women’s teams will compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games between 25 August – 6 September.
 
Qualification has already begun – Brazil, Germany and Belgium secured their place in the men’s competition at the 2018 IBSA Goalball World Championships in Malmo, Sweden. On the women’s side, Russia*, Turkey and Brazil also advanced. The Japanese teams take a place as the hosts.
 
Regional Championships and another qualification tournament in Fort Wayne, USA, will be held in 2019 to decide the rest of the countries who will compete.
 
*The International Paralympic Committee suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee on 7 August 2016 for its inability to fulfil its IPC membership responsibilities and obligations, in particular its obligation to comply with the IPC Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code (to which it is also a signatory). As a result of the suspension, Russian athletes cannot enter IPC sanctioned events or competitions, including the Paralympic Games. On 6 September 2017, the IPC put in place a limited interim measure for athletes to compete as neutrals in qualification events across four World Para sports for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.