The Qatar Paralympic Committee (QPC) announced that Qatar national team is all set to participate in the France International Goalball Tournament in the eight-day event to held in Paris from July 6 to 13, The Qatar squad comprises Mohammed Basheer Al Kahloot, Mohammed Hammam Mohammed, Abdulhadi Ali Al Marri, Ikrami Ahmed Midad, Waleed Ahmed Al Kohagi and Abbad Waleed Al Shamali, according to a Qatar Olympic Committee report Tuesday. The team has been trained for the key tournament by coach Abdulgader Khodaim and assistant coach Abdulkareem Mohammed Bari. Coach Khodaim is optimistic ahead of the tournament and lauded the national team’s rapid improvement in playing-skills and technical competency. Originally devised in 1946 by the Austrian Hans Lorenzen and German Sepp Reindle, goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with total visual handicap. Participants compete in teams of three and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it into the opponents’ goal. Players use the sound of the bell to anticipate the position and movement of the ball. Teams alternate throwing or rolling the ball from one end of the playing area to the other, and players remain in the area of their own goal in both defence and attack. Goalball evolved into a competitive game during the 1950s and 1960s. It was eventually nominated as a demonstration sport at the 1976 Summer Paralympics in Toronto. The sport’s first World Championship was held in Austria in 1978. Goalball became part of the Paralympic programme from the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem onwards Source:Qatar Chronicle

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