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Japan defeats China in Asian Volleyball Championship
October-5-2009
Xinhua,Ocotober 5, 2009
Japan won a tough match against China in the semifinal of the 15th Asian Senior Men's Volleyball Championship held here late Sunday night.
Japan will fight for the Asian crown with Iran on Monday to end this nine-day volleyball meet while China will meet South Korea to compete for the third place.
China, ambitious to win the championship, failed to finish off Japan after two straight set wins on Sunday's face-off between these two traditional Asian rivals.
"We had the upper hand most of the time but unfortunately lost the game. I feel sad but we have lessons to learn," Chinese coach Zhou Jian'an said in a group interview.
Zhou said experience and age helped Japan to overturn the match despite loss of the first two sets.
Even in the third set, Japanese attackers were left frustrated as they were consistently faced with the Chinese wall. But setter Daisuke Usami patiently orchestrated his play when his team managed to narrow the lead at 16-15.
Soon after, China was met with crafty attack combinations from Japan. Neither team gave in as they both tried to take lead at 21 tie. But it was Japan who held tighter and won the third set 25-22.
In a bid to extend the match to a fifth set, Japanese coach Ueta Tatsuya sent in substitute Yuta Abe to man the setting job. With Abe's help, Japan answered China with their fantastic back row attacks and eventually led at 11-9.
Both teams sent in taller front liners to reinforce their blocks. Nerve-wracking rallies were ensued from then on, with Japan collecting points from the wings and China from attacks from the back liners. Japan's back row saves took handed the set 28-26.
Still frustrated by the defeat at the fourth set, China lost the control of the fifth set and Japan soon stole the win at 15-10.


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