The Lithuanians, fourth at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, came into the event in Belgium off the back of a win at the International Men's Goalball Tournament in Vilnius last month and continued their winning streak.

The team, which includes Paralympians Nerijus Montvydas, Sulius Leonavicius and Marius Zibolis, got their campaign off to a perfect start in the seven-team tournament with a 9-4 win over the United States before coming out on top of a superb contest against reigning Paralympic champions Finland on a scoreline of 12-11.

Those two wins were followed by comprehensive wins over the Netherlands and Russia, 13-3 and 14-4 respectively on the second day of action.

The final day saw the Lithuanians draw 7-7 with Algeria before a 12-8 win over hosts Belgium saw them top the final standings.

Wins over Russia, Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands saw the United States finish behind the Lithuanians in the final table followed by African champions Algeria who recorded victories against Russia, the Netherlands and Belgium.

A disappointing tournament saw Finland finish in fourth place followed by Belgium, Russia and the Netherlands.

Finland's Eki Miinala put the poor showing down to a lack of focus and strategy.

"We must get stronger in our team defence," he said.

"We must help each other more and keep the focus better in the defence throughout the game, so we don't make personal defence mistakes.

"Of course we must make less offensive mistakes because there are very good penalty throwers at the top.

"Our opponents didn't give us many chances to make goals from penalties.

"Maybe we were too careful in our attacks and we waited too long until we began to attack as well as we can."

Paralympic champions Finland had a disappointing showing in Blaankenberge but will now get set to host the World Championships this summer ©Getty Images



Miinala and his teammates will need to regroup now in preparation for the IBSA Goalball World Championships, due to take take place in Espoo, Finland, from June 26 to July 7.

The hosts have been drawn in Pool A for the Championships alongside Algeria, Asia/Pacific champions Iran, Czech Republic, United States, Spain, Germany and Ukraine.

Lithuania will take on London 2012 silver and bronze medallists Brazil and Turkey along with Canada, Egypt, Japan, China and Belgium in Pool B.

The women's World Championships will also take place in Espoo at the same time and sees hosts Finland drawn alongside Paralympic champions Japan, Russia, the United States, Turkey and Germany in Pool A.

Pool B contains London 2012 runners-up and Asia/Pacific champions China along with Paralympic bronze medallists Sweden, Iran, Brazil, Ukraine and Israel.

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