Goalball is played by two teams of three visually impaired athletes on
an indoor court with tactile lines, with goals (9m wide x 1.3m high) at
either end. The aim is to score by rolling the ball into the
opposition's goal, while the opposition attempts to block the ball with
their bodies.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International Federation for nine sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions. The IPC is committed to enabling Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and to develop sport opportunities for all persons with a disability from the beginner to elite level. In addition, the IPC aims to promote the Paralympic values, which include courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

For further information, please visit http://www.paralympic.org.

To watch live action and videos on demand of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and subscribe to ParalympicSport.TV, please go to www.youtube.com/ParalympicSportTV.

Also, you may follow the Paralympic Movement on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ParalympicGames or on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/paralympic.


All athletes are visually impaired, and wear eyeshades to allow
athletes with varying degrees of vision to compete together. The
Goalball arena is silent during play so that players can hear the ball,
but spectators are free to cheer when a goal is scored.



Both the men's and women's tournaments begin with a round-robin group
stage. The 12 men's teams are divided into two groups of six teams,
while the 10 women's teams are divided into groups of five. The top
four teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals, from which
point the tournaments are played in a knockout format.