Filtered By: Sports
Sports

Japan foils Australia title defense bid in Asian volley tilt


Japan ended Australia’s title defense bid Friday when the six-time former champions hacked out a straight set 26-24, 25-18, 25-19 win in the 15th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Malate, Manila. Tatsuya Fukuzawa unleashed 17 kills en route to 19 points while Yasuke Ishijima fired seven spikes as Japan, which won the tournament in 1975, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995 and 2005, collected 43 kills in 90 attempts against the 29 made in 85 attacks by the former champions. This was the first meeting between the two teams which fought for the 2007 crown in Jakarta, Indonesia with the Aussies winning the title match. But it was different this time as Australia only had two players left from that 2007 title-clinching squad that joined hands with those that were elevated from the junior pool. The Aussies opened with a 19-14 lead and seemed headed for an early victory by taking a 24-23 lead off a Kunihiro Shimizu error. But Japan recovered in time as Adam White committed a service error to even up the score. A defensive block off spiker Hamish Hingston gave Japan the lead before Fukuzawa delivered the winning kill when he soared past the defense for a 1-0 lead in the race-to-three tussle. Japan was never threatened after that as their spikers relentlessly found holes from the Australia defense to complete the three-set win. Korea, which ruled the tournament in 1989, 1993, 2001 and 2003, earlier demolished Southeast Asian champion Indonesia, 25-17, 25-15, 25-15, to join Japan in the semifinals. Kazakhstan, Chinese-Taipei, Iran and China are the other teams gunning for the last two semis seats. The Philippines had a disappointing showing after dropping all their preliminary round assignments in Group A. Chinese-Taipei completed the shut-out for the hosts after posting a 22-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-18, win on Thursday night. The Nationals of coach Sammy Acaylay hopes to salvage some pride in the consolation pool. – GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT