Japan makes to the Olympics even after defeat from Serbia in the last match – Volleyball news
Japan and Serbia clashed in the last match of 2012 FIVB Women’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament on Sunday.
The crucial match spanned over five tiring sets but in the end it turned out to be a win-win situation for both teams. Serbia defeated hosts Japan in front of 10,000 fans by sending 3-2 (18-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 15-9) on board. Serbia finished the Olympic
Qualifiers with an overall record of 5-2 and earned the tickets to London. Japan, on the other hand, also secured a trip to London for being the top team of Asia.
The AVC Olympic Qualifiers ran in association with the FIVB Olympic Qualification Tournament and Japan advanced to the Olympics as the Asian champion.
Speaking of the match, Erika Araki of Japan topped all the scorers with match-high 21 points. Jovana Brakocevic settled for the position of best scorer on Serbian side with team-high 18 points.
With stupendous support of local fans, Japan opened the match on a strong footing. The hosts displayed good effort and picked up lead at the FTT, 8-5. Gradually, the Serbs raised head and brought the score to an even point at 10-all.
Nonetheless, Japan retook lead and moved to 16-14 at the next mandatory stop. The game of hit ‘n’ run continued and Japan seized first-set win with seven points, 25-18.
The real fight started off in the next set when Serbia threw everything in attack. The visiting team broke into Japanese defence and went up on scoreboard. Serbia continued the hard-hitting and maintained its lead throughout the set. Despite a great effort,
Japan trailed behind and eventually suffered the loss, 21-25.
In the third set, Japan regained better status and influenced the visitors with a display of strong offence and solid defence. The hosts captured the third set 25-19, while the tussle prolonged to fourth flight.
The seesaw battled continued and Serbia created the dead-lock of 2-2 by winning fourth. In the next run, they claimed the final set and settled for 3-0 victory in the match.
Serbian coach Zoran Terzic congratulated his team for making it to the Olympics. He said, “This was a difficult tournament for every team. The Japan team lost energy after the third set. We didn't play well tonight. It was an important game. We were very
tense. But we are happy we made our target.”
“We knew this was the last day. Everybody was nervous. We knew we had to get two sets. We told the players at the morning meeting that we had to give it full power tonight. We have to work on our serve reception in the two months leading up to the Olympics,”
said Japanese coach Masayoshi Manabe.
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