Bangkok, Thailand, August 1, 2021 – Brilliant Yuji Nishida scored a match-high 30 points as Japan pulled off an epic tie-break win against Asian champions Iran to secure their quarterfinal berth in the Tokyo 2020 volleyball tournament at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday.
World No.11 Japan, which overpowered Iran in straight sets in their opening clash at the recent FIVB Volleyball Nations League in Rimini, Italy, took the first set 25-21, went down 20-25 and 29-31 in the next two sets, clinched the fourth set 25-22 and edged out past the battling Iranians 15-13 in the do-or-die tiebreaker.
Following the dramatic 3-2 win in the exhausting 169-minute battle, Japan ended their preliminary Pool A campaign in third place with 8 points from 3 wins against 2 losses and made the cut for the cross quarterfinals. Canada came in fourth position with 7 points from 2 wins against 3 losses, with Iran in a disappointing 5th position with 6 points from 2 wins against 3 losses and winless Venezuela on the bottom place.
With only four teams making the cut for the quarterfinals, world champions Poland, claiming 13 points from 4 wins, and Italy, bagging 11 points from similar 4 wins, Japan and Canada joined the fray, while Iran, the only Asian team competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were eliminated to leave the competition venue with heads low in great disappointment.
Japan and Iran made a confident start to this hotly-anticipated contest, with Yuki Ishikawa, left-hander Yuji Nishida and emerging star Takahashi Ran unleashing their aggressive attacks and powerful jump serves to win back-to-back points for Japan’s narrow 18-15 lead. Iran roared back with their irresistible form to reduce the margin 24-21, thanks largely to promising Meisam Salehi’s fantastic crosscourt spikes. However, Japan were in jubilant after a sharp spike from Milad Ebadipour went wide. Japan netted the first set 25-21.
A comeback was on the right track for Iran in the second set when the momentum was with coach Vladimir Alekno’s men, who were quick and powerful and continued to put the Japanese under enormous pressure in the set. Taking a commanding lead with 4-point clear at 21-17, Iran continued their superb net play with several powerful blows from Salehi, Milad and Amir Ghafour to win the set 25-20.
Their confidence went sky-high after holding 1-1 advantage, Iran impressively resisted Japan’s best efforts of a comeback, coming up with excellent offensive combinations of Salehi’s spectacular attacks, Milad’s great serves and left-hander Saber Kazemi’s effective drops and spikes. It turned out to be a neck-to-neck battle after a 24-24 tie with leads changing hands for several times. At 29-all, Milad hit a fierce spike which went unanswered to put Iran in front 30-29. Japan requested a timeout to improve their fortunes, but their intention was in vain as the Iranians went on to win the hard-fought set 31-29 to stretch the lead to 2-1.
Both teams were still locked into a tight contest in the fourth set when Ghafour and Salehi brought Iran to level the score 20-20. However, Ishikawa and Nishida were on red-hot form as Japan led commandingly 24-22. Shortly after that, the Japanese jumped for joy when a serve from Salehi went wide. Japan claimed the fourth set 25-22, forcing a tiebreak to determine the eventual winners.
In the decider, as Japan were cruising comfortably to the victory with leading by a wide margin 13-9, Iran scored three points in a row to narrow the gap 13-12. Thanks to an unreturnable spike from Ishikawa, Japan advanced 14-12 and then allowed Milad to save one match point for Iran before capturing the last point 15-13, match and a quarterfinal berth.
Yuji Nishida weighed in with a huge 30 points including 24 attacks and 4 solid blocks, while Yuki Ishikawa also performed brilliantly as he chipped in with 20 and Takahashi Ran added 19 on Japan’s winning efforts.
Meisam Salehi led Iran with 26 points including 23 attacks, while Milad Ebadipour and Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi Seyed scored 14 points apiece.
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