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The Australian Belles are on the cusp of an unprecedented Paralympic Games quarter-finals appearance after convincingly beating the reigning World Champions representing the Russian Paralympic Committee at Makuhari Messe on Sunday.
The Belles commanded attention after scoring a 4-3 win over Canada on Saturday – a match report on Paralympics Australia’s Facebook page was approaching 10,000 likes late on Sunday – but went a big step further with a convincing 4-1 win over RPC.
If China defeats bottom-placed Canada on Monday, the Belles will move beyond the group stage for the first time in their history.
“Russia’s incredible. They’re a great team. But you know what, we’re a great team. We deserve to be here,” three-time Paralympian Jenny Blow said.
“If the results tomorrow don’t go our way and we don’t make it, we can’t control that – and that’s been our message the whole way through. We can only control what we can do and we just controlled it by winning that game.”
Asked how the team managed to rebound after their first round 11-1 loss to Israel, Blow said: “We just did it together. That’s been our little motto for these Games – whether you win, lose, draw, whether you have a great game or your worst game, we do it as a team.
“That’s the three people on court, that’s the coaches, the people on the bench. And it’s the other Belles who’ve been on this journey for the last five, 10, 15 years – we do it together.”
Coach Peter Corr, who has coached the Belles for a decade, was teary after the win.
“These girls grew up as sportswomen today,” he said.
“They had to win it and they found a way. Probably no one in the world believed we would win that game today against the World Champions.
“There will be more people who know about goalball as a result of what we’ve done and, if that brings on another generation, that would be great.”
By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 29 August 2021
