Britain’s men gave away six penalties in suffering their second successive 7-1 defeat, this time to Turkey, in their Goalball group A match at the Copper Box on Friday.
Turkey, who beat Beijing 2008 bronze medallists Sweden in their opening game of the tournament, could have won by a greater margin as they only scored from three of those penalties.
Turkey made the better start scoring in the opening minute and then through a Joe Dodson own goal. Two further goals pushed them into a commanding 4-0 lead before Michael Sharkey struck back shortly before the break.
Great Britain, making their Paralympic Games debut at this tournament, suffered a 7-1 reverse at the hands of world champions China on Thursday evening and were unable to regroup for the match the following morning.
They continued to make errors in the second half and could not break through the Turkey defence.
Tuncay Karakaya was the top scorer with four goals and his side will next meet Finland on Saturday. Great Britain need to secure victory over Sweden on Saturday morning to keep their qualification hopes alive.
However Sharkey insisted: “We were encouraged by our performance. There were a few close calls, but there were some sloppy penalties.
“That crowd really warmed the heart. It wasn’t just family and friends cheering. There were people out there who don’t even know us, but they made us feel as if we were the winners.
“Suddenly Goalball is the sport getting a lot of attention. In the past it’s taken me five or 10 minutes to explain to people what I do. Now they can see for themselves.”
