The Chinese and Japanese teams will be the favourites going into the Goalball competition as these are the only two Asian teams that qualified for the last Paralympic Games in 2016 in Rio.
The Chinese women progressed to the final having knocked out London 2012 Gold medallists Japan in the quarter-finals but were beaten by Turkey in the final to take home the silver medal.
The Japanese women were the more in-form team at the 2018 Goalball World Championships in June, finishing 5th overall having been knocked out in the quarter finals. In a disappointing tournament for China’s women, they finished bottom of their group, something that Chen Fengqing, winner of three Paralympic silver medals will be keen to put behind her.
In the men’s event, the Chinese are likely to feature in the hunt for medals, alongside the Islamic Republic of Iran and Japan. Only the Chinese qualified for the Rio 2016 Paralympics but were knocked out in the quarter finals by hosts Brazil.
At the Malmo 2018 World Championships, both IRI and CHN progressed through the group stage but were knocked out in the quarter finals.
At the previous Asian Para Games in Incheon in 2014, the finalists in both the Men’s and Women’s events were IRI and CHN with IRI winning Gold in the men’s event and CHN in the Women’s. JPN took the bronze medal in both events.
The Goalball competition will take place at Balai Kartini over six days with the medals being decided on Friday 12th October.