It was jubilation for Australia today after the Australian women’s goalball team qualified for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The Australian women’s team will be the first Australian goalball team to compete at a Paralympics since the Sydney Games in 2000 after they defeated New Zealand 6-2 to secure their passage to the Games.

Overjoyed at not only qualifying for the Games but also being crowned the 2011 IBSA Africa Oceania Goalball Regional Champions, the team was almost beyond words following a tense game against a committed New Zealand side.

“We’re ecstatic. It’s the first time Australia has qualified in 11 years and I’m really glad we could do it,” said Australian women’s head coach Georgina Kenaghan.

“Coming into the final with this much pressure, the girls handled it really well. New Zealand had improved a lot and was a lot stronger defensively today so we really had to work on getting the goals through and the girls did really well to pull that off.

“The pressure’s been tough and it’s been a big learning curve coming in to a tournament with such a big expectation. They’ve handled it really well and to contain that sort of nervous energy is really tough but they remained calm and got the result.”

Australia’s Tyan Taylor opened the scoring before captain Meica Christensen converted a penalty to take the score to 2-0 at half time.

New Zealand responded with an opening goal after the half time siren but was unable to stop Australia from scoring three more times to extend their lead in the fight for their Paralympic ticket.

Captain Meica Christensen ended the contest with three goals while Nicole Esdaile scored two goals and Tyan Taylor one.

The London 2012 Paralympic Games begin August 29 and run until September 9, 2012.

• Via Australian Paralympic Committee.

The Australian women’s goalball team has kick-started its last attempt at London 2012 Paralympic qualification with an 11-4 win over New Zealand today at Sydney Olympic Park.

In the opening women’s game of the 2011 IBSA Africa Oceania Goalball Regional Championships, Australia led from the outset against its cross-Tasman rival and will go into tomorrow’s second preliminary game against New Zealand as favourites ahead of Thursday’s all important Paralympic qualifying final.

Competing for the regional qualification spot for London 2012, New Zealand opened the scoring but was unable to catch Australia who scored seven unanswered goals to establish a 7-1 lead at half time.

Australia’s strong attacking play in the first half was almost brought undone by tiring defence in the second, after New Zealand narrowed the score to five after the break.

But strong performances from Australian captain Meica Christensen (seven goals), Nicole Esdaile (three goals) and Tyan Taylor (one goal) ensured Australia remained in the clear, extending the lead to seven at the full time buzzer.

“It was really good to come out and play well in the first game. I was very happy with the way we played,” said Australian women’s goalball head coach, Georgina Kenaghan.

“The game was a confidence booster for the team in what is a huge week for us. It gave us a chance to meet the expectations we have set for this tournament, and to not be dictated to by the way they want to play.

“We had a few goals scored against us which gave us a pretty good wake-up call and we’ll definitely look to minimise that as much as possible in the next two games.”

• Read more on the Australian Paralympic Committee website.