Bangkok, Thailand, August 10, 2021 – Tokyo bid a triumphant farewell to a memorable Olympic Games on Sunday night as the curtain came down on its widely-acclaimed staging of the quadrennial sports extravaganza for over the past 17 days.
After a year’s delay, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics had been held behind closed doors amid massive protests calling for the cancellation of the Games amid the grave concerns over the global COVID-19 pandemic. Despite facing multiple challenges from the very outset in hosting the Tokyo 2020, Japanese Government and its people from all walks of life were fully behind it and determined to make the delayed Games happen and come to a successful end.
Opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020
Over the last two weeks, as the Olympians have amazed the world with their incredible performances, sportsmanship and heart, and united the world through the power of sport, Japan proved a can-do country to safely organise the Tokyo 2020.
The Olympics showcased the host nation’s utmost endeavours to overcome enormous obstacles and fulfil their intentions and dreams of people around the world. Thus, Japan, an island country in East Asia, should be given a big thumbs up for their great achievement in hosting a fantastic Tokyo 2020 despite hurdles.
By the same token, to organise volleyball and beach volleyball events in the Olympics during the COVID-19 pandemic is a huge challenge for the organisers Japan Volleyball Association, as not only dedication, but also a large amount of budget allocated and well-trained manpower are particularly needed to reach greater heights and meet the organisational requirements.
Rita Subowo, AVC President
On this occasion, AVC President Mrs Rita Subowo, on behalf of the Asia’s volleyball-governing body, has sent the heartfelt message to JVA President Mr Kenji Shimaoka, extending her warmest congratulations and best wishes on the JVA’s wonderful organisation of both disciplines in the Tokyo 2020.
“Under your leadership, JVA has overcome all obstacles and brought the significant success to your association and Japan in particular,” the email message said. “Please convey my heartfelt appreciation to all JVA staff and the Olympic volunteers concerned on their tireless devotion to the very best of success in the Tokyo 2020.”
At the same time, Subowo also sent appreciation emails to Presidents of AVC affiliated federations participating in the Tokyo 2020, admiring their dedication in intensive training for the Olympic Games and encouraging them to move forward and fight on despite failure in Tokyo.
In the email message, Subowo extended her appreciation for their participation in the concluded Tokyo 2020. Hard work and determination, she said, eventually bore fruit and their teams then qualified for the Olympics, the world’s foremost multi-sports event. Despite the fact that their teams did their best in the Tokyo 2020 but remained unsuccessful, they had already showcased their talents and abilities to counterparts from other Confederations.
“Under your strong leadership, I’m upbeat that with possible better preparation and training, they can develop their maximum capacity and then they can go for the utmost against the world’s best teams to a better position on future international scenes or even in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” she was quoted as saying in the email message.
Her congratulations emails were also sent to Presidents of federations whose teams returned with successes from the Tokyo 2020.
Games Flame at the cauldron
The Olympic Flame at the cauldron has already been extinguished, but AVC has aimed to rekindle the nurture of love of volleyball among new generations and young talents. With no continuity, all efforts are mere nonsense. And with commitment and effort and a love for the sport, let’s work together – AVC, its affiliated federations, sponsors and with the support of fans and the whole Asian family. The future of Asian volleyball remains bright on the global stage.
In terms of the competition and achievement outcomes of AVC affiliated federations participating in the Tokyo 2020, the successes of Australia and Qatar in beach volleyball and Korea in women’s volleyball rekindled Asia’s pride.
In the beach volleyball event at the Shiokaze Park, three Asian pairings qualified for the Tokyo 2020 in the men’s event. Japan’s Yusuke Ishijima Gottsu/Katsuhiro Shiratori and Australians Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann failed to make the cut for the round of 16, while Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan lived up to expectations.
McHugh/Schumann
The superb Qatari duo cruised to the semifinals, but went down 0-2 to Russians Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy. Current No.1 in the FIVB World Ranking, Cherif/Ahmed made amends in the third-place playoff to brush off Latvians Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs 2-0 to claim bronze medal, the first-ever Olympic medal of Qatar in beach volleyball.
Cherif/Ahmed
Four Asian women’s pairings secured their berths for the Tokyo 2020, but only Australians Mariafe Artacho Del Solar/Taliqua Clancy, silver medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, made their mark to reach the semifinals.
Artacho Del Solar and Clancy
Artacho Del Solar and Clancy, who powered past Chinese Xue Chen/Wang Xinxin 2-0 in the all-Asians round of 16, beat Latvians Tina Graudina/ Anastasija Kravcenoka 2-0 in the semifinals. However, the Australians fell at the last hurdle as they lost 0-2 to USA’s April Ross/Alix Klineman in the final showdown to pick up silver medal, the first medal for Australia in beach volleyball at the Olympic Games since Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst triumphed on home soil at Sydney 2000 and the first ever silver.
Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi
The other two Asian pairings saw Japanese Megumi Murakami/Miki Ishii crash out of the pool round-robin preliminaries and Chinese Wang Fan/Xia Xinyi suffer a disappointing loss in the round of 16.
Xue Chen
Meanwhile, three Asian teams secured their slots at the Tokyo 2020 volleyball tournament at Ariake Arena consisting of reigning Olympic champions China, Korea and hosts Japan in the women’s event, while Asian winners Iran and hosts Japan qualified in the men’s competition.
Korea
In the women’s event, led by super star Kim Yeon Koung, Korea, current world No.13, became the only Asian side to advance to the semifinals, where they went down in straight sets to world No.2 Brazil. In the bronze medal match, the Koreans found world champions Serbia too strong to go down tamely in straight sets for a well-earned fourth place.
Korea in group photo at the end of their Olympic campaign
It was the Korea’s fourth attempt in the Olympic semifinals. At the 1976 Montreal Games, Korea grabbed their first-ever Olympic medal after beating Hungary 3-1 in the third-place playoff to return with bronze medal. The remaining three appearances at the 1972 Munich Games, the 2012 London Games and the Tokyo 2020 saw the Koreans end up in similar fourth place.
Though not winning a medal, Korea proved a strong team to be reckoned with and their great will to win and determination to beat the world’s best teams cannot be ignored from now on. En route to the do-or-die semifinals against Brazil, Korea had beaten well-established counterparts including current world No.7 Dominican Republic, reigning and consecutive two-time Asian champions Japan and world No.4 Turkey.
Japan gather for group photo
Hosts Japan, a strong side packed with potential players led by Sarina Koga, Mayu Ishikawa and Ai Kurogo, could not go that far in the Tokyo 2020. With key player Koga sidelined by injury since their first win against Kenya, Japan had a tough going to go down 0-3 to Serbia and 0-3 to Brazil. Koga recovered in time to strengthen the host side in their last two matches against Korea and Dominican Republic, but her help came a bit late as the embattled Japan succumbed to 2-3 defeat to Korea and 1-3 to Dominican Republic ahead of their early exit from the Olympic Games and a disappointing 10th place.
China in their last match against Argentina
Dominant China, which had major titles to their name including the 2016 Rio Games, the 2017 World Grand Champions’ Cup and the 2019 World Cup, left the Ariake Arena in tears and with heads low in great disappointment as they suffered from a preliminary-round slump to crash out of the intense competition and end up in a distant 9th position.
Zhu Ting and legendary coach Lang ping
Also packed with highly-experienced lineup, half of them competed with the China’s Rio Games-winning squad, China had initially been considered one of the strongest teams in Tokyo and the strong contenders for the gold medal. However, things turned sour for the mighty China as star spiker Zhu Ting sustained a nagging wrist injury which drastically affected her performance.
China suffered a shock 0-3 defeat at the hands of Turkey before going down 0-3 to world No.1 USA, the team they had beaten 3-0 at this year’s VNL. They lost three in a row following the 2-3 letdown to Russia in their later match . To improve their fortunes in the Tokyo 2020, China rested many key players including Zhu Ting, Yan Ni and highly-skilled setter Ding Xia in their last two matches against Italy and Argentina. Despite capturing both matches, their superb form came a bit too late and China missed the cut for the quarterfinals.
Japan
In the men’s event, due to the presence of the world’s elites in the Tokyo 2020, hopes of Japan and Iran could not go that high. As Iran crashed out of the pool round-robin preliminaries, Japan fell in the quarterfinals to see both teams end their Olympic campaigns in respective 7th and 9th places.
Yuki Ishikawa
Japan, powered by the three musketeers – Yuki Ishikawa, Yuji Nishida and emerging star Takahashi Ran, proved their mettle in the Tokyo 2020. The world No.11 beat some strong teams including Venezuela and world No.10 Canada, but Japan also had a decisive Pool A match against Asian counterparts Iran to determine the only winning team in the quarterfinals. The host side fared better to secure a spot in the quarterfinals. However, in that round, Japan found world No.1 and reigning Olympic champions Brazil too hot to handle to go down in straight sets.
Iran
Iran, the only Asian men’s team to compete in the 2016 Rio Games, got their Tokyo 2020 campaign off to a brilliant start with an incredible 3-2 win against reigning and consecutive two-time world champions Poland before beating Venezuela 3-0 later on. Unfortunately, the successive three losses against Canada, Italy and Japan cost them dear as they finally bowed out of the world’s top-notch competition.
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