U.S. Men’s Goalball Team Finishes Fourth in Lithuania.

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – After going undefeated in pool play, the U.S. Men’s Goalball Team finished in fourth place Saturday at the Vilnius Telekonas International Goalball Tournament in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Team USA struggled defensively in its semi-final game against Lithuania, falling 15-6.

The team then advanced to the bronze medal game where they played Sweden, the Athens Paralympic Games silver medalists.

The Americans stayed within two goals for the majority of the game before giving up two additional scores late in the second half, losing the game, 7-3.

“This shows us the level of international competition and where everyone is playing wise,” said Head Coach John Bakos (Tucson, Ariz.) “The tournament also lets us have a barometer for our own players.”

This tournament marks the first major competition for the U.S. men since the Athens Paralympic Games and the first international competition for Tim Dornbrock (Jacksonville Beach, Fla.) and Stephen Denuyl (Clinton, Mich.) Teammates Daryl Walker (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Sydney Paralympian Joe Hamilton (Wayne, Mich.) are making their return to elite competition after winning the silver medal at the 2003 World Goalball Championships. John Mulhern (Lebanon, Pa.) was the lone carryover from the 2004 U.S. Paralympic Goalball Team that won the bronze medal in Athens.

“This event allowed us to look at the two younger players [Dornbrock and Denuyl] to get them key international experience as well as to check out the games of the two alternates from the Athens team [Hamilton and Walker,” Bakos said.

Up next: Team USA will compete at the III International Blind Sports Association Pan American Games, September 3-11, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Dornbrock and Denuyl will compete at the IBSA World Youth Championships, August 4-9, in Colorado Springs.

Goalball is a team sport played by blind and visually impaired athletes around the world. A team of three athletes on each side of the court aims to launch a ball at speeds of more than 30mph into the opposing side's goal on an indoor volleyball-sized court.  All athletes are blindfolded to create a state of total blackness and nine bells encased in a ball the size of a basketball help the athletes track the ball's location.

For more information, contact Nicole Jomantas, USABA Communications Director, at (719) 630-0422, ext. 10 or njomantas@usaba.org

USABA, a member organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee, is a non-profit organization that provides training for blind and visually impaired athletes for competition in nine sports. USABA members range from blind children developing sports skills to elite athletes who train for competitions such as the Paralympic Games, the world's second largest athletic competition that draws more than 4,000 disabled athletes.