Denmark beat Belgium 13-6 in the final round of preliminary Goalball matches at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on Thursday to secure a quarterfinal spot.

Denmark bounced back from a poor performance against Lithuania on Wednesday and was ranked third in pool A.

It was an even opening to the first half, apart from three penalties by Belgium, which gave Denmark a 6-2 advantage.

Belgium stormed back into contention in the latter part of the half, with two goals from Youssef Bihi and one from Vincent Buisseret to trail 6-5 at the half.

However, Belgium's comeback stalled, and nine goals from Sweden's Peter Weichel proved the difference.

Bihi finished with five for the game to take his tally in the preliminary rounds to an outstanding 20 goals.

Buisseret, who scored one goal for Belgium, said, "Some of our players were not in a good form both mentally and physically. We had six direct errors today, and that was fatal to this match."

Player of the game, Sweden's Weichel could not agree more with Buisseret, saying "We had a very good defense and we took advantage of the mistakes Belgium made."

"They seemed very nervous. You can feel that already in the beginning when we said hello to each other, you got the feeling that they were swelling at the beginning of the game. They were very nervous."

(BOCOG September 11, 2008)