The first of the quarter-final places at the 2021 International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball European Championships A were decided on Monday (8 November) on the penultimate day of group games in Samsun, Turkey.

The competition is available live and on-demand at goalball.sport between 5-12 November. The schedule and results are available at the Championships website here.

Pictures are available for editorial use here.

The Turkish men advanced to the quarter-finals with a 7-4 win over Finland.

The hosts had to wait until the second half to secure their spot having struggled to put much distance between themselves and their opponents. Both teams took the first whistle with the score at 4-3 to Turkey.

Ebubekir Siddik Kara gave Turkey more breathing space at the re-start, followed just a few seconds later by Tuncay Karakaya. Petri Posio added one more to give Finland a glimmer of hope but Kara made sure of the victory with just 62 seconds left on the clock.

The Finns still have the chance to progress to the next stage when they face Montenegro on Tuesday (9 November).

Belgium executed a stunning 7-5 victory over Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Lithuania in the men’s.

Nerijus Montvydas was once again in great form for the Lithuanians, quickly posting two goals within the first minute. However from there the Belgians took control of the game. Tom Vanhove, Klison Mapreni and Bruno Vanhove all found the net before the break to give their country a two goal lead.

Montvydas was once again quick out of the blocks in the second-half. But not even a trio of goals could halt the Vanhove brothers as they matched him almost strike-for-strike.

Belgium still have a game in hand and could yet finish top of group B. Despite the chance of them losing top spot, Lithuania also appear safely through.

Ukraine delivered a masterclass against Germany to secure their place in the women’s quarter-finals.

It took the Ukrainians a while to pull away from their opponents with the game evenly matched at half-time. Pia Knaute then tried to gain the momentum with a goal early on in the second period, but Ukraine had other ideas.

Yuliia Fakeieva and Olha Lukianchuk added a total of six goals to give Ukraine a 10-3 win.

Germany will have to wait to discover their fate as the final group games take place on Tuesday.

Women’s

In the women’s, both Finland and Denmark started the match as the respective fourth and fifth place in group C.

Despite a good start for Finland with a goal from Miina Gronroos, Denmark dominated proceedings with three goals in the first half.

Gronroos once again opened the scoring after the buzzer but Anja Christensen proved too strong. The Dane ended the match having bagged three more goals to bring her total to six overall.

The final score of 6-3 saw Denmark lifted from the bottom of the table with one game against world champions Russia remaining.

Elsewhere in group C, the pressure is off the Russians as they overcame Great Britain 7-0 in the final game of the day.

In group D France gained an emotional first win of the tournament after digging deep against Greece.

The Greeks took an early lead thanks to two goals from Vasiliki Ago. But France just kept in touch with a goal from Gwendoline Matos to end the scoring in the first half.

With their maiden win in sight Audrey Belkhir came out fighting after the first whistle for France. Belkhir drew level and then took the lead without reply from Greece to end the match 3-2.

With one win now under their belts, France could make it through. They face Ukraine tomorrow while Greece take on Israel.

Men’s

A high-scoring first-half between Russia and Spain ended with the scores level at 5-5. But it was Russia who had the edge as Ivan Antonenko scored two goals. Spain could only manage one in reply.

The win is Russia’s first of Samsun 2021 and gave them hope of qualifying for the quarter finals ahead of their deciding match against Belgium on Tuesday.

Montenegro also kept their hopes alive with a 12-5 win over Greece.

Pool play continues in Samsun until 9 November ahead of the quarter-finals on 10 November. Semi-finals and placement games for fifth-eighth place are on 11 November. The medal matches are on 12 November.