The Organising Committee for the Toyko 2020 Paralympic Games and the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball, have announced that the group draw for the upcoming Paralympics will take place on 21 April.

Men’s and women’s teams from 13 countries will go into the hat for the draw at the Harumi Island Triton Square Tower to determine who will face who when competition gets underway on 25 August.

The IBSA Goalball Technical Delegate for Tokyo 2020, Alexey Baryaev, will join remotely to give welcoming remarks before the draw is made by Mikako Kotani, the Sports Director for Tokyo 2020.

The respective defending men’s and women’s champions, Lithuania and Turkey, will go into the mix as well as both the men’s and women’s teams from the USA. At the last Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016, the US claimed silver and bronze.

Men’s and women’s world champions Brazil and Russia, who will compete as neutrals, will also be watching with huge anticipation three years after they qualified for Tokyo 2020.

The Ukrainian men will make their Paralympic debut in August following on from a stellar performance at the 2019 IBSA Goalball European Championships where they finished second, having just been promoted to the top tier.

Following the group draw on 21 April the match schedule will be determined and published separately.

The draw itself will be open to the media to attend in person or online. A media advisory has been distributed with further details or the Tokyo 2020 Press Office can be reached at[email protected].