Japan, Iran advance to Asian Games men's volleyball finals
The men’s volleyball semi-finals were played on Wednesday 24 November at the Asian Games in China. The gold and bronze medal matches will be played on Friday 26 November.
South Korea vs Japan Semi-final 1
Japan earned a berth in the final with a very close 3-2 (25-27 21-25 25-19 25-10 15-12) win over South Korea. Japan was down 2-0 to the Koreans after two sets, but they stormed back to win three straight
sets on route to a five set victory.
Kunihiro Shimizu of Japan was the match’s top scorer with 22 points, and Yuta Yoneyama had 15 for Japan. Sung Min Moon and Chul Woo Park led South Korea with 15 points each.
The teams were close in their spiking efficiency. Japan had a percentage of 27.12 while South Korea’s was 26.50, but Japan had more kill blocks (16-13) and more aces (7-3), and that was enough to put them
into the final.
Iran vs Thailand Semi-final 2
Iran had no trouble beating Thailand as they won 3-0 (25-16 25-21 25-16). Thailand was closer in the second set that the other two, but they were never close to winning this match.
Leading Iran in scoring was M. Mohammadkazem with 17 points. Thailand didn’t see any of their players score into double digits. They were led by Wanchai Tabwises and Kitsada Somkane, who had nine and eight
points respectively.
Iran was an incredible 67.9 per cent in their spiking efficiency while Thailand was 28.4. Iran didn’t have a lot of kill blocks, but they beat Thailand in that statistic (6-1) and they beat them in aces
(7-1).
Japan vs Iran
Japan and Iran will play in the gold medal match on Friday. Both teams were 4-0 in the preliminary round with neither team losing a set.
Japan lost both their 1-8 placement matches, 3-2 to India and 3-1 to South Korea, giving them a difficult matchup with China in their quarter-final. China was also undefeated in the preliminary round,
but Japan managed to beat the Chinese in straight sets.
Iran won their 1-8 placement matches, 3-0 against Thailand and 3-0 against China and their quarter-final against Qatar 3-1. The set lost to Qatar is the only set Iran has lost all tournament.
South Korea vs Thailand
The bronze medal match will be played two hours before the gold medal match.
South Korea was undefeated in the preliminary round, and they won their 1-8 placement matches, 3-0 against Qatar and 3-1 against Japan.
Thailand was 2-1 in the preliminary round, and was 1-1 in their 1-8 placement matches, losing to Iran 3-0 and beating Kazakhstan 3-2.
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