Korea sends hosts Japan to first loss in the tournament – Volleyball news
Korea proved to be a detractor for host Japan in the fourth match of 2012 FIVB Women’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament and sent the home squad to its first loss in the campaign.
Korea defeated Japan on Wednesday night, while the action took place at Tokyo Metropolitan Gym in front of 10,000 spectators. In the four-set game, Japan could only manage to claim one frame.
On the other hand, visiting team emerged successful in three flights and settled for victory. Japan now stands with an overall record of 3-1, whereas Korea improved to 2-2.
With the support of passionate fans, Japan started out well and showed the hitting power. Powerful serves made their way to the ground on Korean half and Japan moved to 2-point lead at the first technical timeout, which was asked by the Korean coach. During
the break, Korean team received a whole lot of instructions to change the mood of the game. As the play resumed, Korea put up an effort with new ambition. The hard work paid off and Korea went up at the second technical timeout.
Mai Yamaguchi and Han Song-Yi' led the Korean attack and created enough trouble for Japanese defence. Meanwhile, the hosts used many different tactics to regain better status in game but failed to do so. Korean ladies remained remarkably consistent and cruised
past to 25-18 win in first set.
In the next run, Japanese were the giant winners of second set as they managed to get back on track with a display of better performance. They successfully created the tie of game score but could not defend their position in the following two sets. Koreans
came up with hard-hitting and marched away with victory at the end of fourth set.
Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea was named the top-scorer of the match as she totalled match-high 34 points.
Kim Hyung Sil, the coach of Korea, praised the effort of his players. He seemed pretty delighted and shared his thoughts in the following manner, “A Japan-South Korea match often makes players nervous. It can be positive or negative, but we used it in a
positive way. We almost have the ticket to the London Games. We learned from our losses to Russia and Serbia and that made a difference in this match.”
Masayoshi Manabe, coach of Japan said, “We were beaten 3-1. We were inferior in all aspects tonight. That is it.”
Korea will return to action on Friday as they are scheduled to take on Chinese Taipei. Likewise, Japan will go against Cuba in its fifth match on Friday.
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