Rio Paralympics: Algeria’s team denies boycotting games

The Algerian women’s goalball team have arrived in Rio after missing their first two games against the U.S. and Israel, denying claims that political boycott was responsible for their absence.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that their absence had led to suspicions they had boycotted the match against Israel because of long-standing tensions between the countries.
But a team spokesman insisted they had had traffic issues, and said he was “astonished’’ by the accusation.
NAN reports that goalball is a sport for the visually impaired involving a ball with bells.
“I wonder why the team would boycott the Paralympics tournament it has prepared so hard for and which the Algerian state has spent so much money on,’’ spokesman Abdelkader Kelfat said in an interview.

He said the team had suffered a travel problem caused by a missed connection in Rome last Monday, when they left their training camp in Poland.
Algeria had been due to play Israel on Saturday, and the U.S. on Friday, five days after their departure from Poland.
The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) says it is already investigating why the team failed to arrive in Rio on time.
“They are still sticking to their story that they suffered the worst transport issues known to man.
“Whether we believe it is a question mark and we are looking into it,” IPC spokesman Craig Spence said.
Suspicions that the delay was politically motivated were widely reported over the weekend.
“It is a great shame that politics has also seeped into the Paralympics,’’ the head of the Israeli Paralympic Committee, Danny Ben-Abu, had been quoted as saying.
“If, as many people believe, this is a political protest, we can take some form of action against them,’’ Spence added.
“It could be a slap on the wrist, or we could remove the goalball team from the tournament altogether,” he further said.
In the meantime, both the U.S. and Israel have been awarded a 10-0 win and three points each for the unplayed matches.
The Algerian women’s team is next due to play on Monday against Japan and then again on Tuesday against Brazil.
“Fingers crossed they can manage to travel from the (Athletes’) Village to the goalball venue in less than six days,” Spence said.
NAN reports that goalball has three blind or partially blind players on each team wear eye shades to make
conditions equal.
Each team has a low, wide goal on one end of the field.
The players try to score goals with a ball containing bells to help the players orientate themselves.
The crowd is asked to remain as silent as possible.