The team of the Latvian Blind Sports Union (LNSS) will represent Latvia in the international competition, which will take place on June 3 and 4 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
It is expected that blind and partially sighted athletes from France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia will compete in the tournament – a total of 58 participants representing 11 national teams.
“In the group tournament, special attention should be paid to the Group B competition, where our most powerful shoalist Denis Ovsiannikov, who is in the high fourth place in the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) ranking, will start. Artūrs Korjaks, the second athlete of our unit, will also start in this group, therefore the competition will be especially intense, ”says Imants Elstiņš, a shoalist, one of the members of the LNSS team.
The showdown discipline is a unique discipline for the blind and visually impaired, a sport similar to table tennis and air hockey that is used by the blind and visually impaired around the world.
This show is played by two people on a special competition table equipped with two gates (goal holes) at the ends of the table. The object of the game is to hit the ball into the opponent’s goal with a special racket / cue, hitting it on the table surface under the central screen without hitting the side walls. Each player serves twice in a row. The player receives two points for each ball hit, and one point – if the opponent throws the ball into the court, hits the ball from the court or touches the ball with anything other than a stick.
“We have been able to assemble a strong team in the competition for both ladies and men. We also participate in international competitions as judges, representing Latvia and maintaining a high standard of game quality. I think that in this circle we are recognizable in the world, in the best sense of the word, ”says LNSS Secretary General Artūrs Būda.
Latvian representative Artūrs Būda will be the chief judge of Lithuanian international competitions for the second year in a row. In the IBSA, as a judge of international competitions, he has been competing in various tournaments since this 2015 season.
Shaudun is also the most popular sport for the blind and partially sighted in Latvia, and the tournaments organized by the LNSS bring together not only a large group of participants, but also many domestic and even foreign viewers in live broadcasts, which the LNSS produces in professional quality.
LNSS delegation to the tournament – Imants Elstiņš, Dennis Ovyanikov, Diana Dubrovskaya, Artūrs Korjaks, Mārtiņš Allis and Elīze Strazdiņa. The President of the LNSS will also go to Lithuania as the head of the delegation Uģis Skuja.
The participation of Latvian athletes in international competitions is possible thanks to the support of the Latvian State, the funding of the Latvian Paralympic Committee and the Department of Education, Culture and Sports of the Riga City Council, as well as the private sponsor – the company Ecolines.
Uģis Skuja, President of LNSS
