Men

Japan claimed a maiden Paralympic title by beating fellow first-time finalists Ukraine 4-3 thanks to Yano Suto’s overtime goal.

As in their group stage meeting, this was a tight affair, with the sides sharing four first-goals but Yuto’s first seemed to have sealed it in normal time for Japan but Anton Strelchyk grabbed his second to make it 3-3 and force overtime.

Backed by impressive support, Suto’s winner sparked delirium in the stands as they matched their women’s success of London 2012.

For Koji Miyajiki this was a moment six years in the making: ‘since I started playing goalball in 2018 it was always my dream to win the Paralympics gold medal.’

He also hailed the atmosphere in Paris: ‘In Tokyo there were no spectators so it was quiet but here we have loads of spectators chanting which makes me excited and play better so I really enjoyed the situation.’

For Ukraine, despite losing in heartbreaking fashion, they have won their first-ever Paralympic medal at just their second Games (as have Japan) and it follows other recent impressive major tournament results in the last couple of years including a first European Championship title and World Championship bronze medal.

Anton Strelchyk outlined how much it means playing for his country during their difficult time: ‘We showed we can compete, show strength and devote games for Ukraine.’ I enjoyed every second of the competition with the attention the audience gave us.’

Brazil were the bronze medalists in Paris after a 5-3 win over China, beating them in a medal match at the for the second successive Games.

Leomon Moreno scored a hat-trick in a repeat of the gold medal match from Tokyo to ensure coach Jonatas Castro added an Paralympic medal to golds at the World Championships and Parapran American Games since taking over two years ago.

It was a second bronze after their home Games in 2016 and kept up their record of winning a medal in every Paralympics since London 2012.

Josemarcio Sousa, who netted a brace, referenced the previous Games meeting between the two: ‘There were a lot of emotions in the game today. It was a repeat of the final that we had in Tokyo so we knew we had to play with anger, with so much desire for the medal, because we knew the capacity of the Chinese athletes. ‘We had to take the emotions and use that to win this game.’

In contrast, China are still yet to medal at consecutive Paralympics and could not add to their gold at Beijing 2008 and silver at Tokyo 2020 despite winning their first four matches in Paris.

It was a closer encounter than their 13-5 quarter-final defeat to Japan but trailing at half-time, conceding another couple of times early in the second-half effectively sealed their fate.

Women

Turkey became the first side in goalball history to win gold at three successive Paralympic Games after beating Israel 8-3 with five goals from Sevda Altunoluk and Fatma Guler’s hat-trick.

Leading 7-2 at half-time, they effectively had the match won to follow up their titles in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and usurp 2000 and 2004 gold medalists Canada (who had lost in the 2008 quarter-finals).

It was a second comprehensive gold medal performance in as many Paralympics for Turkey having beaten the USA 9-2 in Tokyo (and China 4-1 in Rio) with Altunoluk now having scored 17 of their 21 finals goals.

The Turkey star is the only player to have played in all three victories: ‘I’m just happy playing with the same team, I can’t explain my feelings.’

Conceding three early goals meant Israel started in the worst possible fashion and a further two penalties in the opening period left them too much to do.

It was another defeat in Paris against Turkey for Israel following their group stage reverse but they have the consolation of winning a maiden goalball medal by taking silver.

This historic moment was something Or Mizrahi was understandably keen to embrace despite the loss:

‘Two days ago, three days ago, no one in Israel knew what goalball is, except our family and friends and those who know us.
“Now I don’t think there’s a house in Israel that doesn’t know what goalball is, that doesn’t know who we are, that doesn’t know what we did. “I hope this will help us to develop the game in Israel, to bring new, fresh blood into our lives and to be good for a long, long, long time.”

She also outlined the impact their run has had on their country: two days ago no-one knew what goalball was apart from our family and friends but now I don’t think there’s a house who doesn’t know who we are and what we did.’ It can help us develop the game and new fresh players.’

China succeeded where their male counterparts couldn’t in beating Brazil to claim the bronze medal in Paris with a 6-0 victory.

Four goals from Chunyan Wang including three second-half penalties, saw them overcome the South Americans who had knocked them out in the quarter-finals at Tokyo 2020.

A debutant for China in Paris, Chunhua Wang was rightly proud of her own achievements: ‘I’m very happy with bronze. This is my first Paralympic Games, but it won’t be my last. To get bronze on my Paralympic debut, to be able to stand on the podium, it’s something worth being happy about.’

With the previous Paralympics being the only time they had not won a medal, they are now back on the podium after bouncing back from their semi-final defeat to Israel.

However, it’s a third successive defeat in the bronze medal match for Brazil after losing to the USA in 2016 and Japan in 2020 meaning they are still yet to win a Paralympics medal.