Goalball will this week become the second sport to award places at the Rio 2016 Games, when six teams earn their spots at the Paralympic Games via the world championships in Finland. Four sitting volleyball teams last week became the first athletes to confirm their presence in Rio, through their world championships in Poland, and now the focus turns to the Tapiola Sport Center in Espoo. The top three men’s and women’s teams in the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships will qualify for Rio 2016, with the Brazilian teams already guaranteed their places as hosts.

Throughout 2014, athletes from at least 10 Olympic sports and 12 Paralympic sports will earn qualification spots for the greatest sporting event on the planet.

Between Monday (June 30) and Saturday (July 5), the world's best 28 goalball teams will compete in the Finnish city, with the Lithuanian men’s and Chinese women’s teams defending the titles they won at the last world championships, in 2010 in Sheffield, England. The current Paralympic champions, the Japanese women and the Finnish men, will also be among the favourites.

The Finnish men's team, which also won gold at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games, is determined to use home advantage to ensure their place in Rio and avoid the stress of trying to qualify at later events.

“A place in the Rio 2016 Games is our main aim,” said Erkki Miinala, who scored in the 8-1 gold medal match win over Brazil at London 2012. “It will be very good if we no longer need to worry about qualifying from the IBSA World Games 2015 in Seoul.”

Iran’s Seyed Sayahi, who played in the last two Paralympic Games, underlined the quality of the competition. “All the teams are strong and I would rank the Czech Republic, Spain and Lithuania as our main adversaries,” he said. “Ensuring a place this early at the Rio 2016 Games would be very important – we would have enough time to train properly and the team would build up great confidence.”

Seyed Sayahi views the Czech Republic, Spain and Lithuania as Iran’s main rivals (Photo: Getty Images/Scott Heavey)

Gülşah Aktürk of the Turkish women's team, which finished second in the last European championships, believes her squad is well prepared after an intensive pre-tournament training schedule, saying: “We are fully geared up for the world championships – we really want to guarantee our trip to Rio and I’m confident that we will do so.

“The first round matches will be the hardest. If we make it through to the second round, we will have a good chance. Ensuring our qualification so far in advance would allow us to focus entirely on the Paralympic Games for the next two years.”

Kaisu Hynninen, a member of the Finnish women's team that placed fourth at London 2012, summed up the double-sided nature of the tournament. “It’s like catching two flies at once: to win a world championships medal and get a place for Rio. That’s our target.”

The 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships will feature 16 men's teams, divided into two groups. Group A includes Algeria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Iran, Spain, Ukraine and USA. Group B is comprised of Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Japan, Lithuania, Turkey and Brazil.

Twelve women’s teams will play, with Group X consisting of Finland, Germany, Japan, Russia, Turkey and USA, while Group Y contains China, Israel, Sweden, Ukraine, Australia and Brazil.

You can read the latest news from the tournament on the official website.