The Brazilian men’s goalball team will be confident of going one better than the silver medal they picked up at London 2012, after a favourable draw on Wednesday (4 May) for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

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The reigning world champions are the top seed in Group A, where they will play Algeria, Canada, Germany and Sweden, who picked up the bronze medal at Beijing 2008.  Finland, who defeated Brazil 8-1 in the London final, face a tougher group. The Paralympic champions were drawn with 2012 bronze medallists Turkey, Beijing 2008 champions China and former world champions Lithuania. The USA, bronze at the 2014 world championships in Finland, are the other team in a challenging group.

“It's an awful draw for us,” admitted Finland coach Timo Laitinen. “The beginning will be very tough, but if we win our games, our semi-final could be easier.”

Brazil coach Alessandro Tosim said: “All the teams are strong and well-prepared, but Group B is the group of death, with three teams who are among the gold medal favourites.”

Finland and Brazil have developed an intense rivalry in the sport in recent years. In the 2014 world championships, Brazil secured their revenge for their defeat at London 2012, hammering Finland 9-1 after eliminating Lithuania in the semi-finals.

Brazil are going into the Paralympic Games in top form. At the world championships they were the only team to go without a defeat in the entire tournament, winning the semi-final and gold medal match with a total score of 23-5. Then at the Parapan-American Games in Toronto last year, Brazil defeated the USA by 10-4 in the final to claim gold.

In the women’s tournament, the Brazilian team had a tougher draw. The home side will have to face reigning Paralympic champions Japan and world champions USA, as well as Algeria and Israel in Group C. In Group D, double Paralympic gold medallists Canada will take on double silver medallists China, as well as Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Growing popularity

Goalball is a sport for the visually-impaired that demands intense levels of concentration, agility and strength. Devised in 1946 to help rehabilitate soldiers who were injured in World War Two, it entered the Paralympic Games in 1976 and is now played in more than 100 countries.

The two teams are made up of three players, who are blindfolded to ensure equality, as levels of visual impairment vary. There is a large goal at each end of the court and when the attacking team rolls the ball at high speed towards their opponents' end, the defending players must throw their bodies in front of the ball to defend their goal. Thankfully, they use protective padding. They know the ball is coming because it has two bells inside.

The Finnish team are the current Paralympic champions (Foto: Getty Images/Dennis Grombkowski)

Test event

The draw took place in the Future Arena, which will be the venue for all the Paralympic Games goalball matches in Rio. Following the draw, four of the best men’s teams in the sport – Brazil, the USA, Finland and Lithuania – began a mini-competition which will test the site for goalball. The event, which runs from Wednesday to Thursday, will examine the accessibility of the venue for people with visual impairments. Last week the same venue hosted the draw and test event for handball, which is an Olympic sport.

Carla da Mata, goalball manager at Rio 2016, says a key focus for the test event will be the acoustics of the Future Arena, of paramount concern to the athletes. Because of the bells inside the ball, goalball action needs to take place in absolute silence, with no interference at all from echoes.