The hosts Japan loses the fight to Russia in their final encounter
The hosts Japan couldn’t stand the heavy strike of defending champions Russia in the final match of second round and received 1-3 (21-25, 14-25, 25-23, and 25-13) defeat in front of 6,000 fans at Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan. The second round of
the FIVB Women’s World Championship rounded off on Wednesday, 10th November, 2010. Japan was placed in Pool E along with Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Poland, South Korea, China and Peru.
Russia firmly held the top spot by scoring maximum 14 points, while home-team Japan earned 12 points and settled for the second slot in rankings at the end of second round. Peru and South Korea failed to qualify for the final round of the championship, while
the rest made their way to the next stage. The final round of the championship will start on Saturday, November 13 and final team standings will be revealed on Sunday, November 14 and finally the 2010 FIVB Women’s World Championship will be closed.
Detailed analysis
The first set of the match was kicked off with Russian dominance. The top-guns of Russia took control of operations by delivering powerful serves and speedy spikes. Vladimir Kuzyutkin, the head coach of Russian ‘army’ defined the right direction for his
team and gave them an excellent game-plan. The strategy seemed to be working as Russia was ahead in points. The prolific serves of Ekaterina Gamova and electrifying shots of Nataliya Goncharova worked out magic for Russia. The pumped up Japanese side felt
uneasy in their shoes but gradually they got hold of the game. Yukiko Ebata of Japan found the perfect gaps in Russian half and rolled off the ball in right spots. Japan pulled off a lead of 11-10 but the crunch time came in the game when score was tied at
19-19. Both sides attacked aggressively and tried to hit the finish line. However, Russia clawed its way to success in 23rd minute of the game by killing a nice attack attempt by Yukiko Ebata and secured first set at 25-23.
The second set of match started out in the same fashion. Russian spikers showed no mercy to the hosts and continued with hard-hitting. The better attack and defence of Russian team resulted in their lead of 8-4 over Japan. The local crowd moved back and
forth in their seats and desperately wanted a change. The home-team couldn’t form a good strategy to stop Russia from scoring. They continued with success and stretched the gap of points to 10-5 at the first technical timeout. Russia put more pressure and
tightened the screws of Japanese team by taking the score to 12-9. Afterwards, Japan could only pocket 5 points out of remaining 18 points. On the contrary, the powerhouse Russia earned straight points to further influence the Team Japan. Ultimately, a deadly
spike by Shashkova put an end to the game as Russia was 25-14.
Japan’s team badly failed in the hands of visitors but they resumed the game in third set with a new hope. They took advantage of Russia’s reception errors and registered the first three points of the third set. It was the first time in match that Japan
picked up lead over Russia. They followed the same approach and extended their lead to 10-3. Japan’s lead created a chance for fans to scream their lungs out in support of their team. Japan made a great return in the game and kept the same energy. They performed
exquisitely and didn’t allow Russia to raise head in the game. Japan finished third set by posting 25-23 victory.
The game score of 2-1 was an interesting twist in the game. It seemed as if Japan was back in rhythm but their happiness was short lived. Russia opened the set with convincing hits of Goncharova and took a lead of 6-2 in early few minutes. Japan suffered
the setback on account of bad ball reception. Russia kept on moving and built a strong lead of 11 points (14-3). Japan attained a little stability with good blocking but Russia took the game away from them and declared victory at 25-13.
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