Israel’s women’s goalball team won silver at the Paris Paralympics on Thursday, the country’s first Paralympic medal in a team sport since 1988 and its eighth at these Games.
The team fell 8-3 to Turkey in the gold medal game. Lihi Ben David, who had served as one of Israel’s Paralympic flag bearers alongside Oct. 7 survivor and wheelchair tennis player Adam Berdichevsky, played with a broken finger she had sustained during the team’s 2-1 victory over China in the semifinals.
The squad had beaten Brazil in pool play before losing to both Turkey and China in that stage. Israel then beat Canada 5-1 in the quarterfinal on Tuesday before its victory over China to earn a spot in Thursday’s gold medal match.
Goalball is a handball-style sport for athletes with vision impairment in which teams of three attempt to throw a ball embedded with bells into their opponents’ goal.
Israel made its goalball debut at the 2016 Paralympics and had never made it to a medal match before Thursday. The silver medal is Israel’s first in a team sport since its men’s volleyball team won silver in 1988.
While political demonstration is prohibited on the field of play at the Paralympics, subtler references such as hair accessories have not run afoul of the rules. Several members of the goalball team wore yellow ribbons in their hair during the semifinal match, a sign of solidarity with Israeli hostages, according to the Times of Israel. And during the Olympics last month, Israeli silver medalist judoka Inbar Lanir also wore a yellow scrunchie, telling an Israeli news outlet, “Those who understand it, will understand.”
The goalball team features Ben David, 28, Elham Mahamid, 34, Noa Malka, 21, Gal Hamrani, 31, Or Mizrahi, 31, and Roni Ohayon, 25.
“I think it’s a huge honor,” Malka told Israel’s Sport5 broadcaster after the team’s semifinal win. “The situation in Israel is always on our minds throughout the tournament. I’m so proud of the team and of the girls, I’m proud to be a part of this thing… We knew the whole time what we were capable of, and today we proved it.”
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