BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- With five straight wins, Slovenia shot into the quarterfinals of the men's goalball tournament at the Beijing Paralympic Games on Thursday, while host China suffered its first defeat but still qualified for the quarterfinals.

    The reigning world champions from Lithuania suffered their first loss to Slovenia in a Pool A match. Slovenia, staging a stunning comeback to a 7-6 win, proved itself a genuine contender for the gold medal with five triumphs out of five.

    The Slovenians trailed 3-1 at halftime and 6-3 midway in the second half, but three consecutive goals from Matej Ledinek leveled the score with just one minute to go.

    With only seconds left on the clock, Dejan Pirc scored his third goal and sealed the dramatic win for Slovenia.

    "It was a tough game," said Dejan Pirc. "We were a little bit unlucky today in losing the early goals, but we kept our concentration on the attacks and finally came back to win the game."

    "We had confidence in our victory in the second half," he added.

    "Certainly, the problem was our defense. Our defense was weak today," said Marius Zibolts, who contributed four goals to Lithuania.

    Surprisingly, China suffered their first 8-6 loss to Iran, which had only one win in the last four matches. China took a 6-3 lead at halftime, but Iran leveled the score at the beginning of the second half. With only two minutes remaining, Iran scored two more goals and sealed the win.

    "We lost the game, but it doesn't matter. What is more important is that our bench players have gained invaluable experience. They need more practice," said Chinese coach Zhang Yong. "The key players need reserve strength for the future games."

    Defending Paralympic champions Denmark defeated Belgium 13-6 and ranked third in men's pool A. Finland outplayed Spain 7-3, squeezing into the quarterfinals.

    In men's pool B, the Athens Games silver medalists Sweden crashed the Athens bronze medalists the United States 9-1. Brazil beat Canada 6-3 to notch up their first victory. Ranking at the bottom, Brazil will play against Spain in the 11th-12th playoff. Belgium and Iran, both ranking fifth in their pools, will play for the ninth and tenth position.

    China fought off Japan to remain undefeated on top of the women's pool. The first half was dominated by defense on both sides, with neither team scoring until Japan's Akiko Adachi unexpectedly found the net with just two seconds left in the half to take a 1-0 lead.

    In the second half, Lin Shan leveled the score for China. Her teammates added two more and set up their 3-1 win.

    "I'm not satisfied with our performance," said China's coach Shao Baolin. "Japan is a comparatively weaker team, but we conceded a goal and let them take an early lead."

    "Since we've already qualified for the semifinals, we can relax while playing, but not much," Shao added. "In fact, our major rivals are all at the same level with us."

    In other women's matches, defending gold medalists Canada tied 2-2 with Denmark. The Athens silver medalists America blanked Germany 4-0. Sweden downed Brazil 5-4. Germany and Japan were at the bottom with five losses.

    China will play Finland in men's quarterfinals and the Chinese women will confront Denmark.