Impairment Information |
Type of Impairment |
Visual Impairment |
Further Personal Information |
Marital status |
Common Law / De Facto |
Residence |
Espoo, FIN |
Occupation |
Communications Professional |
Languages |
English, Finnish |
Sport Specific Information |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
He first played at age ten, but did not start playing seriously until 2005, at age 19, when he went with a friend to play at a club in the Finnish national league. |
Why this sport? |
"I tried goalball when I was about ten years old and I fell in love with the sport, because it is really fast and tactical. A player who wants to be on top in goalball needs many important skills for it." |
Club / Team |
Old Power: Espoo, FIN |
Name of coach |
Timo Laitinen |
Coach from which country? |
Finland |
Coach from what year? |
2008 |
International / National Debut |
Year |
2008 |
Country |
Finland |
Location |
Tuusula |
General Interest |
Nicknames |
'Eki ' [an abbreviation of his given name]. (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Hobbies |
"I play drums in a rock band, read books and play Hattrick - a football manager game on the Internet." (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Memorable sporting achievement |
"Winning a gold metal at the 2011 IBSA World Games in Turkey." (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Most influential person in career |
"All the great Finnish players who I have played with." (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Hero / Idol |
"I appreciate a few great centres in the world, Juha Oikarainen from Finland and Saulius Leonivicius from Lithuania." (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Injuries |
He says he had "big problems" with his lower back in 2009, which took several months to recover from. (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Sporting philosophy / motto |
"Wherever I will play, I will do my best." (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Ambitions |
To win gold medals in European, world championship and Paralympic Games competitions. (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012) |
Other information |
DISABILITY ORIGIN
His visual impairment is the result of retinitis pigmentosa. (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012)
OCCUPATION
He works as a transcriber. (Athlete, 08 Aug 2012)
|
