Israel wins Paralympic goalball semifinal, guaranteeing gold or silver medal
Jewish state to celebrate first team sport medal at Games in 36 years, will face Turkey in Thursday’s final; handcyclist Amit Hasdai finishes 4th in time trial event
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
Israel’s women’s goalball team beat China 2-1 in the semifinal on Wednesday at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, guaranteeing the team either a silver or gold medal.
The six-woman team will face Turkey in the final on Thursday, having already clinched at least the eighth medal for Israel at the Paris Games.
The team — made up of Lihi Ben David, 28, Elham Mahamid, 34, Noa Malka, 21, Gal Hamrani, 31, Or Mizrahi, 31, and Roni Ohayon — beat Canada in the quarterfinal to win a spot in the semifinal. In the group round of the tournament, Israel had lost 1-6 to China, but came to Wednesday’s match sharper than ever, only allowing one goal to get through.
“I think it’s a huge honor,” Malka told Israel’s Sport5 broadcaster after the team’s win on Wednesday. “The situation in Israel is always on our minds throughout the tournament. I’m so proud of the team and of the girls, I’m proud to be a part of this thing… We knew the whole time what we were capable of, and today we proved it.”
Israel made its Paralympic goalball debut in 2016, but had never managed to advance to a medal match. The team’s silver or gold will be the first Paralympic medal for Israel in a team sport since 1988, when the men’s volleyball team won silver.
Goalball is a team sport played by those with visual impairments, in which three athletes from each team play at a time on the court, throwing and attempting to block a ball with bells embedded inside.
Members of the team wore yellow ribbons in their hair during the match as a sign of solidarity with the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
The goalball medal will be at least the eighth for Israel so far at the Paralympics, after it has already won four swimming medals, two rowing medals and one in taekwondo.
Elsewhere in Paris on Wednesday, handcyclist Amit Hasdai finished fourth in the men’s H2 individual time trial event, missing out on the podium by one spot.
Hasdai, 41, who was seriously wounded during his IDF service in 2002, will also compete in Thursday’s men’s road race.
“My first time at the Paralympic Games, I managed to finish in fourth place, and tomorrow we have the road race, and I’ll try to do my very best,” Hasdai told Sport5.
Earlier in the day, swimmer Mark Malyar finished 12th overall in the heats of the men’s 400m freestyle S8 disability category, and didn’t advance to the final. Malyar, who has already won a bronze in Paris, has one race left to go on Friday.
The swimmer — whose twin brother, Ariel, is also a Paralympian — won three medals at the Tokyo Games three years ago. In the interim, however, he was told by Paralympic authorities that he has to move from the S7 to S8 disability class, competing against those with milder impairments.
In addition to the goalball final and Hasdai’s road race, Thursday will also see a bronze medal match for tennis player Guy Sasson, competing against Turkey’s Ahmet Kaplan, while shooter Yulia Chernoy will take aim in the mixed 50m rifle prone event.
