The goalball team is preparing for its third appearance at the Paralympic Games: “We deserve to win a medal”

The women’s volleyball team is currently at the peak of preparations for the Paralympic Games in Paris. Israel is one of the best teams in the world, its list of titles includes winning the World Games in 2015 and a bronze medal in 2023, two silver medals in the European Championships (2019 and 2023), 3 times bronze (2013, 2017, 2021) and the bronze medal in the World Championships in 2022.

The only medal missing from their closet is from the most important tournament – the Paralympic Games. After being stopped twice in the quarterfinals, the goalball team arrives in Paris with one clear goal, to finish the hard work and win a historic medal. “Our goal is to bring a medal and finish as high as possible. Of course with priority for a gold medal,” national team player Roni Ohion tells ‘Davar’.

In December, the goalball team got the ticket to the games in Paris. In the direct battle for the last ticket, the Israeli team defeated the British team 9:0 in the semifinals of the European Championship, and at the end of a successful championship, they finished as European runners-up.

“It was a crazy feeling, we danced on the field”

The Israeli team arrived at the European Championship in Montenegro, knowing that it twice missed the ticket to Paris when it failed to make it all the way to the World Championship in Portugal and the World Games in Great Britain. “We missed the ticket to the World Championship by one place, and then there was Birmingham, which did not go according to our expectations,” Ohion says. “So we arrived at the European Championship knowing that we had to take the ticket and we really did it. It was a crazy feeling and at the end of the game we just danced on the field.”

Goalball is a sport designed for the blind and visually impaired. The game takes place in a closed hall and is played with a special ball, which consists, among other things, of bells. The game requires absolute silence, so that the participants can hear the ball and position themselves in relation to it. The game is played lying on the floor, with the players having to throw the ball in order to get it into the opposing team’s goal.

“Every game is critical”

This will be the third time in a row that the goalball team will participate in the Paralympic Games. Reduce the number of teams from 10 to 8 and make promotion to the games more difficult. “Unfortunately, we reduced the number of teams in all ball sports. So it was more of a challenge, on the other hand, we are going straight to the last eight of the tournament.”

In the group draw held a week and a half ago, Israel was placed in the stronger Group A with world and Olympic champion Turkey, World Games champion China and Brazil. When in the second house, the surprising world runner-up South Korea, strong Japan, Canada and the host France, which is considered a weak team in the industry, were placed.

“We received a difficult and interesting home. Turkey, China and Brazil are very strong teams. I hope we play well at home and win all three. Especially Turkey and China, who are, in my eyes, our main competitors in the battle for the medal. I think that reaching a good place at home can also hint at a semi-final More comfortable. Every match is critical. In my opinion, this will be an interesting Olympics, we come to it with the best mental and physical preparation.”

“There are many things you need to do in a few seconds”

25-year-old Ohion was born with several visual impairments at the same time. In her left eye she can’t see at all, she has trouble seeing in the distance in her right eye, has trouble seeing in the light and more. Since childhood, Ohion has been involved in athletics and floor gymnastics for the visually impaired. Although she enjoyed the sport adapted for the visually impaired, these branches are not sufficiently developed in Israel, so she had to stop and wait until the fourth grade for the branch of goalball that became so central to her life to be opened for the first time in her city of residence, Be’er Sheva.

“As a child, I would go every Sunday to the center for the blind in Be’er Sheva. When I was in the fourth grade, they started a goalball team, they began to develop the sport in Israel. I started training there, after six months the coach left for Canada and they closed the team. In the eighth grade, they reopened it And of course I immediately joined.”

Today, Ohion is one of the senior players in the Israeli national team, and the one who, together with Gal Hamrani, shares the role of the ‘centrist’ who stands at the center of the trio and is responsible for the coordination and communication of the players. “In the role of center, you coordinate the game, you are basically responsible for communicating and transferring information inside the field. Where the ball is thrown, to unite the team, try to identify things and movements and give alerts if necessary, when a player is close to the ball thrown by the opposing team. You have many things to do which you have to do in a few seconds.”

“We are a team that pushes and lifts up”

This will be the third appearance of Ohion and the multi-player team at the Paralympic Games. In their debut in Rio 2016, they finished in fourth place in the group stage with a technical victory over Algeria and a draw against Japan, but in the quarter-finals they were eliminated by the defending champion Turkey. At Tokyo 2020, the team impressed in the group stage with wins over Russia and Australia, but were knocked out once again in the quarterfinals, this time by Japan.

Gal Hamrani in the uniform of the women’s goalball team (Photo: Lilac Weiss Rosenberg)

The previous two times you stopped in the quarter finals, what do you have to do to pass this hurdle?
“I think it was mainly a mental matter. The Olympics is different from any other competition. There is an audience at the games and many other parameters that affected us. We are working on it in preparation with our mental psychologist. We analyzed things and did a lot of mental work, so that we get past this point. The goal It is to reach the semi-finals and after that to push forward as much as possible.”

You are a team that has been running for many, many years together, what strength does this give you?
“I think we know each other in a way that no other team does. We know how to lift each other up. We are a team that pushes and lifts up. I think this is our strength and we rely heavily on it. We are united and stronger together, no other team has the Our ‘together'”.

Following the outbreak of the war and the security situation, the preparations of the Israeli national team were compromised. In order to continue preparing in the best possible way, the team had to think of a creative solution outside the box “We are supposed to go to a very important preparatory competition held in Malmö, Sweden, right after the audition. It was embarrassing, but because of the security situation, we had to cancel our departure for the competition. The same thing happened Now with our departure for the competition in Brazil we had to give up, because there were many problems.”

The Israeli national team in goalball against Canada, at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo (Photo: Keren Isaacson, Paralympic Committee)

“It affected our preparation, but in the end we are very focused on ourselves. So our preparations now are mock games against teams with a different playing style than ours, for example a team with a different defense. We bring the men’s team players who throw the ball harder, to To form a defense against the shots of the best players in the world. Mainly to create variety in training, now we are trying to bring players from abroad to practice against them.”

What will be considered success in your eyes at the games in Paris?
“First of all, to get through the quarterfinals and then reach the podium and win an Olympic medal. I think we are a team that proves itself every time and we deserve an Olympic medal. There are strong teams and we don’t fall behind them. This is our third Olympics and we deserve to win an Olympic medal this time.”