The Chinese men’s goalball team won their both their matches on day two of the 2019 International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball Asia-Pacific Championships on Friday (6 December) in Chiba, Japan.

The defending champions followed-up on their opening win over Indonesia from Thursday with victories over Thailand and hosts Japan.

In their first game Mingyuan Yang starred in China’s first-half attack, scoring all of his team’s goals to hand them a 5-0 lead over Thailand.

Liang Chen then stepped into the fray after the whistle with five goals of his own. Yu Qinquan and Changgui Cai and Liangyu Lai also found the back of the net to secure a 13-3 rout.

Buoyed by their morning performance China then faced 2017 silver medallists Japan.

The Chinese registered six goals before the break with only one in reply from their opponents. Japan struggled to breach the defensive lines in the second half, only finding the net twice. They did however manage to stop most of China’s attempts with only two more squeaking through to end the match 8-3.

Full results can be found at https://www.gb-aprc.com/schedule and live coverage is available at IBSA’s YouTube channel.

Men’s

Despite their loss against China, Japan did triumph over Australia in their morning game.

A balanced performance from the hosts saw them net six first half and five second half goals for an 11-1 win.

Kazuya Kaneko scored four to help give Japan the lead at the first whistle. He shared the limelight with scorers Ryoga Yamaguchi, Yuto Sano, Koji Miyajiki elsewhere in the match.

Iran continued their unbeaten run but with a narrow 9-7 victory over South Korea.

The South Koreans regrouped in the afternoon for a 12-2 win over debutants Indonesia.
Thailand also returned to the court to win a close tie with Australia that ended 6-4.

Women’s

Two games were contested in the women’s on Friday.

Defending champions Japan were on a rest day, leaving the respective silver and bronze medallists from 2017 – China and Australia – to make their mark.

Australia eased past Indonesia 11-1 with all of their goals coming in the first half.

Meica Horsburgh and Molly Smith were the big hitters, each finding the net four times.

China managed seven goals against South Korea without reply. Zhenhua Cao came into her own in the second half, netting three goals to leave as the top scorer.

Round-robin play continues in Chiba on Saturday (7 December) as teams go for the title and qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The semi-finals then take place on Monday (9 December) ahead of the medal matches on Tuesday.