(Beijing, September 15) After today's quarterfinals and semifinals of the 2007 Goalball Invitational Tournament, Team China stunned all by beating a strong field to qualify for the finals. While China will take on Sweden in tomorrow's gold-medal match, the United States and Lithuania will vie for the bronze medal.

As a late-comer in goalball, China has seen rapid development of the sport in recent two years. While the Chinese women's team ranks among the world's best, its men's team is comparably inferior in strength. This time, however, the Chinese men's team did exceptionally well, first beating Canada and Lithuania to lead in the group, and then edging Finland and the United States to make the finals. This was also the best result ever achieved by the Chinese men's team.

Judging by its performances over the past three days, China put up a tight defense and played with varied tactics. Needless to say, China enjoyed all the favorable conditions by playing on home soil. Moreover, the absence of top players in some of the teams also made it possible for China to show its progress over the years.

Compared with the world's best teams, there is still much to be improved by China, particularly the game experience. Some Chinese players grew impatient after losing to Denmark in the group heats and to Finland in the quarterfinals, which led to unforced errors and fouls. In addition, the Chinese team often found it difficult to deal with vigorous and fast throws from their European and American opponents. However, their bouncing balls and varied tactics made troubles for their opponents and helped them beat the US team in the semifinals.

Tomorrow China will take on Sweden, a formidable team with consistent play. Commenting on China's semifinal game against the USA, Chinese coach Zhang Yong praised his players for giving full play to their skills. However, Zhang mentioned that during the play all the Chinese players got injured, which seriously affected the team's performance. Among them, he noted, Yao Yongquan, who is good at throwing bouncing balls, would miss tomorrow's final game for a middle finger injury. Nevertheless, the coach said the team will do its very best to go further and accumulate experience for future competitions.