Surabaya, Indonesia, July 26, 2017 – Former four-time winners Korea stunned defending and eight-time champions Japan in a hard-fought five-set thriller 25-22 21-25 17-25 25-18 15-9 to capture the top spot in Pool C at the SMM 19th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship at the Tri Dharma Petrokimia Gymnasium on Wednesday.
Japan have already won a berth to compete at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Italy and Bulgaria after emerging as the winners at the AVC Qualifier Pool B in Australia. The Japanese remained in impressive form, counter-attacking well to win the second set 25-21 after going down to the well-organised Koreans 22-25 in the opening set.
Japan stretched the lead to 2-1 after taking the third set 25-17, but their delights did not last long when Korea hit back to win the fourth set 25-18. The Koreans came out in full force in the tie-breaker. With Park Joohyeong and Lee Kangwon making an excellent offensive combination, Korea stormed on to win the deciding set 15-9 and match.
Park Joohyeong topscored with 15 points for Korea including 14 kills from 19 attempts. Lee Kangwon added 12 attack hits and Shin Yungsuk handed the team 3 kill blocks. Takashi Dekita led Japan with 18 points.
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