Iran beaten by Algeria in Tokyo qualifier

In one of the most exciting encounters ever, the “Azzurri” European team commanded by head coach Andrea Anastasi struggled firmly to overpower the host team in the last match of the day. Italy saved 11 match points before beating Japan. After losing the first set 25-20, Japan fought back to take the next two 30-28, 30-28. In the fourth set, Japan had seven straight match points from 24-17, but missed them all and four more before Italy eventually took the 39-minute frame 35-33 on their sixth set point.

In the tiebreak, Italy made no mistake, 15-7, to complete an extraordinary turnaround. The best scorer for the European team was Hristo Zlatanov with 25 points, but was the Japanese Takahiro Yamamoto the best scorer of the match with 29 points.

During the press conference after the match, Head Coach Andrea Anastasi said: “Japan made one of their best performances in the last 20 years, and because they produced such a good performance they should go to Beijing. They deserve to go to Beijing, and I hope they can do it. The game was very difficult for us. In the fourth set it was all about the mentality. Japan may have been feeling anxious to finish the game, but on the other hand we always believed we could win”.

Japanese Head Coach Tatsuya Ueta stated: “In today's game we missed the chance for one win -- and it was all our fault. We lost the first set but from the second set our defence started to work well so we were able to make it a close game. In the fourth set we were not able to take one point after leading from 24-18, and that is really shocking to us and very disappointing”.

In the curtain raiser, Australia swept Thailand in straight sets. The reigning Asian champions and world No. 11 outclassed the 28th-ranked Thais 25-12, 25-15, 25-14 to make a perfect start in the round-robin competition.

Thailand, who were fifth in the 2007 Asian Championship, had no answer to the serving and blocking of Australia's powerful "green machine". Australian Paul Carroll was the best scorer of the match with 16 points, while Wanchai Tabwises won 7 points for Thailand.

Head Coach Russell Borgeaud said: “Obviously I am very happy to start the tournament with a win. We always try to respect our opponents and Thailand has proved in the past to be a good opponent. But as their coach says they have a very young team here and we were able to take advantage of the difference in experience. Our players played very well, particularly on serve and block”.

In the second match of the day, Argentina fought back from one set down to tame Korea 3-1. The South Americans, ranked sixth in the world, downed the 16th-ranked Koreans 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 29-27 on their sixth match point of a fiercely-fought contest with the outstanding performance of Lucas Chavez, best scorer of the match with 23 points. For the Korean side, Sung-Min Moon conquered 21 points for his team.

Head Coach Jon Uriarte told the press that “Korea came with a traditional pattern of play, and their style worked well, but we were prepared for it. They showed us their excellent reception and strong set-up play, and therefore we suffered in the first set. By playing with a young group, the most important thing is how you focus on each game, and how you can use your chances. In this game, when we had a chance we were able to take it, and this took us to victory”.

In another exciting match of the day, World N° 60 Algeria produced an astonishing comeback to beat Iran 3-2. The clash featured a marathon 72-point, 36-minute first set which Iran won 37-35 on their 10th set point after Algeria had squandered three set points of their own. Algeria later saved two match points in the tiebreak before winning on their third match point 35-37, 18-25, 25-21, 27-25, 19-17. Both teams gave their best and so did the main scorers Ali Kerboua (ALG) and Mousavi Seyed (IRA) with 22 points each.

In the press conference, Algeria Head Coach Samir Zitouni stated: “Iran is a good team. They have power and played a very good game. Their attacks were very good, so because of that we were not able to defend well. Today I want to congratulate my players. They did really well”.

First Day Results:
Australia - Thailand 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-14)
Argentina - Korea  3-1 (16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 29-27)
Algeria - Iran 3-2 (35-37, 18-25, 25-21, 27-25, 19-17)
Italy - Japan 3-2 (25-20, 28-30, 28-30, 35-33, 15-7)