17/12/2023
MEN final
Lithuania vs Ukraine 3:8 (1:3)
Lithuania - Mantas Brazauskis, Juozas Eigminas, Arturas Jonikaitis, Nerijus Montvydas, Genrik Pavliukianec and Justas Pažarauskas
Ukraine - Vasyl Oliinyk, Anton Strelchyk, Fedir Sydorenko, Oleksandr Toporkov, Yevheniy Tsyhanenko i Rodion Zhyhalin.
The Ukrainian men's goalball team is the new champion of Europe!
Today in Podgorica, in the final match, they triumphed over the reigning champions, team Lithuania, with a resounding 8:3 victory.
This marks Ukraine's first title as the champions of Europe for the goalball team, breaking a streak of two consecutive final defeats in previous championships.
After an initial setback against Montenegro, Ukraine bounced back with six consecutive victories to claim the coveted trophy.
In the final showdown between the two best European teams of recent years, Ukrainian defense proved unbreakable, leaving the offensive oriented Lithuania with no solution.
After initially taking the lead and levelling the score, Ukraine secured a two-goal advantage by halftime (3:1). In the second half, they further extended the lead early on. Despite Lithuania's quality, the outcome was practically decided at that point, sealing Ukraine's victory.
The top scorers in the triumphant team were Fedir Sydorenko and Rodion Zhyhalin, each contributing three goals, while Vasyl Oliinyk found the net twice.
Lithuania, which reached the final with a flawless record, playing a championship without mistakes, fell short in the decisive match against a more prepared Ukrainian team.
In their eighth continental final, Lithuania could not achieve more than an honorable defeat, securing a silver medal for the third time in the championship. They previously lost in the finals in 2001 and 2011, but have claimed the championship trophy five times (2007, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021).
Scoring for Lithuania were Justas Pažarauskas, Genrik Pavliukianec, and Nerijus Montvydas.