Bangkok, Thailand, July 30, 2021 – Japan suffered straight two losses at the Tokyo 2020 volleyball tournament at the Ariake Arena on Friday, putting their chance of advancing to the quarterfinals under uncertainty.
World No.11 Japan got their Olympic campaign off to a brilliant start with convincing 3-0 win against Venezuela and made it double joy following a 3-1 triumph over Canada. After that, the host side succumbed to their first 1-3 defeat to Italy.
On Friday, the Japanese found world No.2 Poland, consecutive two-time world champions and silver medallists at this year’s FIVB Volleyball Nations League in Rimini, Italy, too strong to go down in hard-fought straight sets 22-25, 21-25, 24-26.
Poland are assured of advancing to the quarterfinals as they remained atop Pool A with 10 points from 3 wins against one loss, allowing opportunity for the other four teams to vie for the three slots up for grabs.
Canada bagged 7 points from 2 wins including the Friday’s 3-0 triumph over winless Venezuela against 2 losses, while Iran and Italy similarly played three matches and are due to confront each other later on Friday. However, both sides had 5 points apiece from two wins against one loss and the Friday’s result will give one team a cut above the other side. Venezuela are sure of missing the cut for the next round as they have yet won a single match with no point awarded.
On the other hand, Japan, with only one match remaining before the pool round-robin preliminaries will come to a close, collected 6 points from two wins against two losses. Consequently, they need a must-win match on their last Pool A clash against Asian champions Iran on Sunday to increase their chance of securing a quarterfinal berth.
To beat Iran, the team they had beaten 3-0 at this year’s VNL, is not easy as the Iranians came much stronger this time in the Tokyo 2020 as they had already stunned world champions Poland 3-2 in their Olympic opener. If Japan can repeat the similar feat over Iran remains something to be seen on coming Sunday.
Against Poland, Japan fielded the similar lineup which had beaten Venezuela and Canada including Yuki Ishikawa, Yuji Nishida and Takahashi Ran, while Poland were spearheaded by Wilfredo Leon Venero, Aleksander Sliwka and Bartosz Kurek.
Japan relied on the collective rather than any individual but they had a sea of attacking riches at their disposal in the first set. The determined Japanese and Poland went neck and neck in closely-contested battle which saw the scores tied for several times. Levelling 18-18, Poland broke away 22-20 and then 24-21 with Kurek and Leon coming to the fore, taking turns to methodically tear the Japanese defence with their exceptional attacks. Japan saved one set point before Poland took the close set 25-22.
The second set remained the similar script when Poland took command from the beginning to lead with five-point clear at 14-9. Japan came within a whisker of meeting the Poles at 19-all, but the strong visitors still had more to hold them off. Poland took the set 25-21 for an impressive 2-0 advantage.
Conceding two sets, Japan upped their tempo and started to produce the goods to lead 14-12 in the third set. However, Poland regained their composure, coming up with scintillating blocks and spectacular attacks to catch the host side at 22-all. From then, both sides gave it all, but Poland fared better to win the hard-fought set 26-24 and match.
Four players scored double digits for Poland, with Wilfredo Leon Venero chipping in with 17 points. Aleksander Sliwka kept good company to add 13 points, with Bartosz Kurek and Jakub Kochanowski assisting with 11 points apiece. Yuki Ishikawa led Japan with 16 points including 13 attacks and 2 blocks, while Yuji Nishida added 13.
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