Japan sweeps Korea in a Pool I match of World Grand Prix – Volleyball news
A Pool I match of the FIVB World Grand Prix took place between Japan and Korea on Sunday June 24, 2012. The match between the two sides was held in Osaka, Japan. Playing with the home ground advantage, Japan was able to make a clean sweep over its opponents.
The score board showed the following final set scores: 25-22, 25-20 and 27-25.
Despite the fact that Korea was playing against Japan in their opponent’s home turf, they did not go down without putting up a good fight. Only the second set saw Japan win with a bit of a margin otherwise the first and the third sets were kept pretty close
by the Koreans.
The coach of the Japanese squad, Masayosi Manabe, shared his happiness at the win by making the following statements, "In today’s game our serve-reception was pretty stable. Looking back to OQT and in the nine matches in this World Grand Prix, this was our
best service reception. Korea was strong sometimes today, sometimes not.”
On the other hand, the Korean coach Kim Hyung-Sil, expressed his feelings by making the following comments, “To be honest, I think our players did well so far...In this Grand Prix we couldn’t make the final, but we are going to the Olympics, so we’re looking
forward to that.”
The player who was able to tally the highest number of points in the match was the Japanese Saori Sakoda who put up a score of 20 for her side. Sakoda was helped by her team mate Saori Kimura who made her presence felt by adding 15 points of her own. On
the other hand, the most points scored on the Korean side were also 15, put up by Han Song-Yi and Kim Hee-Jin both.
The Koreans got the lead early on at 4-2 in the first set but Japan managed to get the advantage at 10-9 and kept on stretching it. Korea was able to close in the gap at 21-20 but they could not turn the tables as Japan got hold of the opening set at 25-22.
Japan was leading in the second set at 8-2 but Korea was able to lessen the gap by pushing up the score to 13-9. Korea kept on the chase of the Japanese squad but Japan did not let go of the advantage and stuck with it till 18-12. After that point, it was
only a matter of time before Japan bagged the second set at 25-20.
Korea stepped up their game in the third set and put up a good challenge by taking the lead at 9-6. However, Japan got back in the game by making the frame reach a tie at 12-12. Korea was not about to give up just yet and they pushed up to 18-15. Japan moved
ahead at 20-19 and eventually was able to secure the third frame of the game at 27-25.
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