The World Goalball Championships are held once every four years and are the biggest event in the sport outside of the Paralympics.

The 2010 edition of the tournament at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) Sheffield saw the three medal winners in both the men’s and women’s competitions secure qualification for the London 2012 Paralympics.

In the men’s event Lithuanians were the dominant force throughout the tournament, not dropping a match throughout the pool stages and scoring in double-digits almost at will with superb offence.

In the final, Lithuania took a 4-2 lead at half time before China rallied to level the scores at 4-4.

However, the Lithuanians won by a 9-1 margin over the rest of the match to claim a comfortable 13-5 victory.

China’s women had no such problems in their gold medal match as they beat the United States 3-1.

The Americans had tied the match with the first shot of the second half but excellent defence from the Chinese shut their opponents out for the rest of the game.

The win gave China retribution for losing to the US on home soil in the Beijing Paralympics gold medal match two years ago.

In the other medal matches, Iran snatched the third automatic London 2012 Paralympic spot from the US with a 5-3 win in the men’s bronze medal game while Sweden beat Canada 2-1 in the women’s bronze medal match after winning a nail biting penalty shootout 2-1.

Sweden booked their ticket for 2012 after the match with Canada had ended 2-2 following overtime.

The men’s placings from fifth to twelfth were confirmed earlier in the day.

Spain beat Sweden 4-2 to finish fifth while Algeria ran out 6-2 victors against Brazil to take seventh.

Canada ended in ninth with a 5-4 win against Slovenia and Hungary took eleventh after a 5-3 victory over Belgium.

For the women, Finland and Japan played out an epic match which ended 0-0 after overtime.

Finland eventually won 2-1 in a sudden death penalty shootout to secure fifth place.

Denmark claimed seventh with a 4-0 victory over Australia.

Britain’s men and women struggled at the Championships with neither side winning a game.

However, they both qualify for London 2012 by virtue of being hosts.

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