Lithuania men's national goalball team is the men's national team of Lithuania. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. It takes part in international competitions.
 Lithuania men's goalball team ready to defend against Australia at the Goalball World Championships, Malmö, Sweden (2018). | |
| Full name | Lietuvos nacionalinė golbolo rinktinė |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | Liūtai (Lions) |
| Sport | Goalball |
| League | IBSA |
| Division | Men |
| Region | IBSA Europe |
| Location | Lithuania |
| Colours | Yellow, green |
| Championships | Paralympic Games medals:
 : 0  : 0  : 0 |
| Parent group | Lithuanian Paralympic Committee |
| Website | paralympics |
Members of the team participate in the several international tournaments each year within the country at the capital Vilnius and the Paralympic training centre nearby at historic Trakai.
Paralympic Games
2000 Sydney
The team competed in the 2000 Summer Paralympics, between 18 and 29 October 2000, at an Olympic Park indoor hall, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They came second.
2004 Athens
The team competed in 2004 Summer Paralympics, between 17 and 28 September 2004, in the Faliro Sports Pavilion Arena, Athens, Greece. They came ninth.
2008 Beijing
The team competed in 2008 Summer Paralympics, from 6 to 17 September 2008, in the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 'bat wing' arena, Beijing, China. There were 12 men's teams and 8 women's teams taking part in this event. They came second.
2012 London
The team competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics from 30 August to 7 September 2012, in the Copper Box Arena, London, England. They came fourth.
The following is the Lithuania roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[1]
| No. | Player | Age |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nerijus Montvydas | 27 |
| 3 | Arvydas Juchna | 28 |
| 5 | Saulius Leonavicius | 39 |
| 6 | Mantas Panovas | 23 |
| 7 | Genrik Pavliukianec | 36 |
| 8 | Marius Zibolis | 37 |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Turkey | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 6 | +20 | 13 | Quarterfinals |
 Brazil | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 20 | +10 | 9 | |
 Lithuania | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 20 | +13 | 8 | |
 Finland | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 24 | −8 | 6 | |
 Sweden | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 25 | −9 | 5 | Eliminated |
 Great Britain | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 35 | −26 | 1 |
| 30 August 2012 09:00 | Lithuania | 11 – 1 | Great Britain | Copper Box, London Referees: Bülent Kimyon (TUR), Kimberly Anderson (USA) |
| Pavliukianec 4 Zibolis 3 Juchna 2 Panovas 2 | Report | Sharkey 1 | ||
| 31 August 2012 10:15 | Lithuania | 10 – 0 | Finland | Copper Box, London Referees: Dawna Christy (CAN), Warrick Jackes (AUS) |
| Pavliukianec 5 Juchna 3 Leonavicius 1 Zibolis 1 | Report | |||
| 1 September 2012 11:30 | Brazil | 12 – 5 | Lithuania | Copper Box, London Referees: Thomas Baerz (GER), Launel Scott (CAN) |
| Marques 10 Almeida Maciel Celente 2 | Report | Montvydas 2 Pavliuklianec 2 Panovas 1 | ||
| 2 September 2012 19:45 | Sweden | 5 – 5 | Lithuania | Copper Box, London Referees: Janne Ahokas (FIN), Hooshang Shariati (IRI) |
| Seremati 5 | Report | Pavliukianec 2 Panovas 2 Juchna 1 | ||
| 4 September 2012 19:45 | Lithuania | 2 – 2 | Turkey | Copper Box, London Referees: Hooshang Shariati (IRI), Dawna Christy (CAN) |
| Zibolis 2 | Report | Alkan 1 Karakaya 1 | ||
- Quarter-finals
| 5 September 2012 18:00 | China  | 4 – 12 | Lithuania | Copper Box, London Referees: Bülent Kimyon (TUR), Carla Da Matta (BRA) |
| Chen 2 Yongquan 2 | Report | Zibolis 6 Juchna 4 Leonavičius 1 Pavliukianec 1 | ||
- Semi-finals
| 6 September 2012 20:00 | Brazil | 2 – 1 | Lithuania | Copper Box, London Referees: Janne Ahokas (FIN), Shinji Mizuno (JPN) |
| Almeida Maciel Celente 1 Marques 1 | Report | Leonavičius 1 | ||
- Finals
| 7 September 2012 18:30 | Lithuania | 1 – 4 | Turkey | Copper Box, London Referees: Juha Vuokila (FIN), Yasser Omar (EGY) |
| Zibolis 1 | Report | Karakaya 4 | ||
2016 Rio de Janeiro
The team competed in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, with competition from Thursday 8 September to finals on Friday 16 September 2016, in the temporary Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[2] They won the gold medal.
The following is the Lithuania roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[3]
| No. | Player | Class | Date of birth (age) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nerijus Montvydas | B1 | 21 January 1985 (aged 31) |
| 3 | Justas Pazarauskas | B1 | 15 December 1991 (aged 24) |
| 5 | Mantas Brazauskis | B2 | 15 June 1990 (aged 26) |
| 6 | Mantas Panovas | B2 | 20 August 1989 (aged 27) |
| 7 | Genrik Pavliukianec | B1 | 17 June 1976 (aged 40) |
| 9 | Mindaugas Suchovejus | B1 | 2 April 1988 (aged 28) |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lithuania | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 22 | +13 | 12 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 |  United States | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 18 | +3 | 6 | |
| 3 | Turkey | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 23 | −3 | 6 | |
| 4 | China | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 25 | 28 | −3 | 3 | |
| 5 | Finland | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 34 | −10 | 3 |
| 8 September 2016 17:30 | Finland | 6–13 | Lithuania | Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Raquel Aguado (ESP), Rudi Janssen (BEL) |
| Miinala 3 Mattila 1 Posio 1 Honkanen 1 | Report | Pavliukianec 7 Pažarauskas 5 Panovas 1 | ||
| 10 September 2016 13:15 | Lithuania | 8–7 | United States | Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Raquel Aguado (ESP) Patricia Fras (SLO) |
| Pavliukianec 6 Pazarauskas 2 | Report | Hamilton 5 Merren 2 | ||
| 12 September 2016 14:15 | Lithuania | 3–1 | China | Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Patricia Fras (SLO), Joelle Boulet (CAN) |
| Pavliukianec 2 Pazarauskas 1 | Report | Chen 1 | ||
| 13 September 2016 20:45 | Turkey | 3–5 | Lithuania | Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Nejc Jakic (SLO), Daniel Voltan (BRA) |
| Karakaya 2 Gündoğdu 1 | Report | Panovas 2 Pavliukianec 1 Pazarauskas 1 Montvydas 1 | ||
- Quarter-finals
| 14 September 2016 18:00 | Lithuania | 5–4 |  Canada | Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Bülent Kimyon (TUR), Alexander Knecht (GER) |
| Pazarauskas 3 Pavliukianec 2 | Report | Ripley 2 Hache 1 Nesbitt 1 | ||
- Semi-finals
| 15 September 2016 18:30 | Lithuania | 7–2 | Sweden | Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Yoshinori Nii (JPN), Raquel Aguado (ESP) |
| Pavliukianec 5 Pazarauskas 2 | Report | Seremeti 1 Weichel 1 | ||
- Finals
| 16 September 2016 20:00 | United States | 8–14 | Lithuania | Future Arena, Rio de Janeiro Referees: Nejc Jakic (SLO), Daniel Voltan (BRA) |
| Simpson 4 Hamilton 1 Jenks 1 Merren 1 Walker 1 | Report | Pavliukianec 8 Pazarauskas 6 | ||
2020 Tokyo
The team competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics, with competition from Wednesday 25 August to finals on Friday 3 September 2021, in the Makuhari Messe arena, Chiba, Tokyo, Japan. They qualified at the 2019 IBSA Goalball Paralympic Ranking Tournament at Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States of America.
The team finished as bronze medalists, behind China, and Brazil.
The following is the Lithuania roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2020 Summer Paralympics.[4]
| No. | Player | Class | Date of birth (age) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nerijus Montvydas | B1 | 21 January 1985 (aged 36) |
| 2 | Artūras Jonikaitis | B3 | 21 December 1986 (aged 34) |
| 3 | Justas Pažarauskas | B1 | 15 December 1991 (aged 29) |
| 5 | Mantas Brazauskis | B2 | 15 June 1990 (aged 31) |
| 7 | Genrik Pavliukianec | B1 | 17 June 1976 (aged 45) |
| 9 | Marius Zibolis | B1 | 14 October 1974 (aged 46) |
Coach was Valdas Gecevicius, and staff member Ugnius Savickas. Jerseys were predominantly green or white.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Japan (H) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 15 | +22 | 9 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Brazil | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 17 | +18 | 9 | |
| 3 |  United States | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 35 | −10 | 6 | |
| 4 |  Lithuania | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 31 | −7 | 4 | |
| 5 |  Algeria | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 43 | −23 | 1 |
- Round-robin
| 25 August 2021 09:00 | Brazil | 11–2 | Lithuania | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Robert Avery (Great Britain), Warrick Jackes (Australia) |
| Marques 4 Moreno 3 Sousa 3 Da Silva 1 | Report | Pavliukianec 1 Zibolis 1 | ||
| 26 August 2021 19:00 | Lithuania | 7–7 | Algeria | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Warrick Jackes (Australia), Svitlana Moroz (Ukraine) |
| Pavliukianec 3 Pazarauskas 3 Zibolis 1 | Report | Belhouchat 7 | ||
| 28 August 2021 14:45 | Lithuania | 2–10 | Japan | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Warrick Jackes (Australia), Bas Spaans (Netherlands) |
| Montvydas 1 Pavliukianec 1 | Report | Sano 4 Miyajiki 3 Kaneko 2 Yamaguchi 1 | ||
| 30 August 2021 13:15 | United States | 3–13 | Lithuania | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Robert Avery (Great Britain), Bas Spaans (Netherlands) |
| Simpson 2 Young 1 | Report | Montvydas 5 Zibolis 4 Pavliukianec 2 Pazarauskas 2 | ||
- Quarter-finals
| 31 August 2021 17:45 | Belgium  | 4–7 | Lithuania | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Bas Spaans (Netherlands), Raili Sipura (FIN) |
| T. Vanhove 3 Amnir 1 | Report | Pavliukianec 4 Montvydas 2 Pazarauskas 1 | ||
- Semi-finals
| 2 September 2021 17:45 | Lithuania | 5–9 | Brazil | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Yoshinori Nii (Japan), Warrick Jackes (Australia) |
| Pavliukianec 2 Jonikaitis 1 Pažarauskas 1 Zibolis 1 | Report | Sousa 6 Moreno 2 Marques 1 | ||
- Finals
| 3 September 2021 15:00 | United States | 7–10 | Lithuania | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Robert Avery (Great Britain), Warrick Jackes (Australia) |
| Simpson 2 Walker 2 Young 2 Kusku 1 | Report | Zibolis 4 Pavliukianec 3 Montvydas 2 Pažarauskas 1 | ||
World Championships
1998 Madrid
The team competed in the 1998 World Championships, in Madrid, Spain.
2002 Rio de Janeiro
The team competed in the 2002 World Championships, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 30 August 2002 to 8 September 2002.
2006 Spartanburg
The team competed in the 2006 World Championships, in July 2006, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States of America.
2010 Sheffield
The team competed in the 2010 World Championships, from 20 to 25 June 2010, in Sheffield, England.[5] They were in Pool B.
2014 Espoo
The team competed in the 2014 World Championships from 30 June to 5 July 2014, in Espoo, Finland. They were in Pool B, won their quarter-finals defeating the Czech Republic 11:6, but were mercied by Brazil 14:0 in the semi-finals. In the bronze medal match, they were defeated by the United States, 2:4.[5]
Athletes: Mantas Brazauskis (#4), Saulius Leonavicius (#5), Montvydas Nerijus (#1), Mantas Panovas (#6), Genrik Pavliukianec (#7), and Marius Zibolis (#8).
2018 Malmö
The team competed in the 2018 World Championships from 3 to 8 June 2018, at the Baltiska Hallen, Malmö, Sweden. They placed second in Pool A winning six of their seven games, beating the United States 7:4 in the quarter-finals, before being beaten by Brazil in the semi-finals 6:7. For the third place playoffs, they were beaten by Belgium 2:9. The team was fourth in final standings.[5]
Athletes included: Arturas Jonikaitis (centre).
2022 Matosinhos
The team competed in the 2022 World Championships from 7 to 16 December 2022, at the Centro de Desportos e Congressos de Matosinhos, Portugal. There were sixteen men's and sixteen women's teams. They placed second in Pool D, and fourth in final standings.[6]
IBSA World Games
2015 Seoul
The team competed in the 2015 IBSA World Games from 10 to 17 May 2015, in Seoul, South Korea.[5] Beating China 10:3, the team took the gold medal.
Lithuania line-up in a game with Australia (May 2015).
Lithuania throwing towards Japan (May 2015).
Awaiting medal presentation (May 2015).
Regional championships
The team competes in the IBSA Europe goalball region.[7] Groups A and C are held one year, and Group B the following year. Strong teams move towards Group A.
2013 Konya (Group A)
The team competed in the 2013 IBSA Goalball European Championships, Group A, from 1 to 11 November 2013, at Konya, Turkey.[8] They beat Finland in the quarter-finals, 9:5, mercied Germany in the semi-finals 13:3, going onto beat Spain in the finals, 4:2.[5]
2015 Kaunas (Group A)
The team competed in the 2015 IBSA Goalball European A Championships, from 5 to 12 July 2015, in Kaunas, Lithuania. The tournament was organised by the Lithuanian Blind Sports Federation. Beating Ukraine 13:8 in the quarter-finals, they went on to lose to Finland 5:13. They mercied Czech Republic 15:5, to take third place.[5]
2017 Pajulahti (Group A)
The team competed in the 2017 IBSA Goalball European A Championships from 15 to 23 September 2017, at Pajulahti, Nastola, Finland. They placed first, beating Germany 6:3.[5]
Athletes included: Nerijus Montvydas, Justas Pazarauskas (highest goalscorer of the tournament), Mindaugas Suchojevus, and Marius Zibolis.
2019 Rostock (Group A)
The team competed in the 2019 IBSA Goalball European A Championships from 5 to 14 October 2019, in Rostock, Germany. They placed third in the final standings.[5]
Athletes included: Arturas Jonikaitis (centre), Nerijus Montvydas, Mantas Panovas, Justas Pazarauskas, and Marius Zibolis.
