Russia, Brazil, Iran and Ukraine started their campaign at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games with a win on the first day of competition for the Football 7-a-Side tournament, which is being held on Pitch 1 of the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium.
The favorites didn't disappoint their fans as they won all the points at stake.
Russia was too strong for China, stepping off the gas after establishing a 3-0 lead in the first 13 minutes. A vibrant home crowd could not prevent Russia from winning 6-0.
Andrey Kuvaev, captain Ivan Potekhin (two goals), Pavel Borisov and substitutes Mamuka Dzimistarishvili and Stanislav Kolykhalov scored the goals for the world champion.
Brazil and Netherlands played out a thrilling encounter that was decided by a moment of brilliance by Marcos Silva of Brazil, who scored with a great left-footed strike in the first half. Goalkeeper Marcos Ferreira made a couple of outstanding saves and was a key in his team's 1-0 victory.
Iran had to work very hard to overcome the challenge presented by a resilient young Irish team. Star forward, Abdolreza Karimzadeh and defender Rasoul Atashafrouz put Iran two goals up before Finbarr O'Riordan put Ireland on the scoreboard, pouncing on a rebound after Iranian goalkeeper Ardeshir Mahini saved O'Riordan's initial penalty kick.
Karimzadeh scored two more goals in the second half, which was enough to give Iran the full three points, despite Ireland's Joseph James Markey scoring a late second goal. The final score was 4-2 in favor of Iran.
In the last match of the day, Ukraine started the defense of the gold medal that it won at Athens 2004, with a 8-1 win over Great Britain.
Ivan Shkvarlo scored a hat-trick, while Taras Dutko added two goals. Denys Ponomaryov, Anatolii Shevchyk and captain Volodymyr Antonyuk all scored one goal each.
Great Britain had equalized through Matthew Dimbylow, but failed to maintain the momentum and conceded three goals in a five-minute passage of play in the first half.
Following these results, Russia and Brazil are in the box seat in pool A, while Iran and Ukraine are in control of their own destiny in pool B.
The second day of the Football 7-a-Side tournament will be held on Wednesday, September 10 at the same venue.
(BOCOG September 8, 2008)