Italy, Argentina, Australia and Algeria claim first victories in Tokyo qualifier

(TOKYO, June 1) -- Italy, Argentina, Australia and Algeria beat host country Japan, Thailand, Republic of Korea and Iran, respectively, on May 31, the first day of the FIVB Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament at Tokyo Metropolitan Gym.

Italy struggled to win their game against Japan. Only after fierce fighting in five sets (25-20, 28-30, 28-30, 35-33, 15-7) did the Europeans claim the win. Japan started a fierce counterattack after losing in the first set to win the following two. At the beginning of the fourth set, Japan led Italy with continuous scoring, but then lost the seven point lead and gave away four more before Italy won the game 35-33. In the tiebreaker, Italy gave fans an outstandingly exciting performance, defeating the Asian team 15-7. Italian head coach Andrea Anastasi said at the press conference after the match that Japan deserved to go to the Beijing Olympic Games because of its fantastic performance, the country's best in the last 20 years. Japanese head coach Tatsuya Ueta stated that her team felt very shocked and disappointed.

Australia defeated Thailand in three straight sets 25-12, 25-15, 25-14, with powerful serves and blocks. Head coach Russell Borgeaud said that he was glad to win the first victory and that Thailand was indeed a good opponent. Argentina came back from a loss in the first set in its game against the Republic of Korea, winning the next four by close margins (16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 29-27). Lucas Chavez, the best scorer of the match, earned 23 points for his team, while Sung-Min Moon scored 21 points for the ROK.

Another extraordinarily fierce match was held between Algeria and Iran. In the end, Algeria grabbed the win, taking 3 sets to Iran's 2. The first set, which Iran won 37-35, lasted 36 minutes. However, Algeria not only survived, they took the match.

FIVB Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament results:

No Date Teams Set Result per set (points) Total

Points Time Audience

1 2 3 4 5

1 31-May AUS-THA 3-0 25-12 25-15 25-14 75-41 1:06 1'140

2 31-May KOR-ARG 1-3 25-16 23-25 23-25 27-29 98-95 1:58 3'090

3 31-May ALG-IRI 3-2 35-37 18-25 25-21 27-25 19-17 124-125 2:23 5'360

4 31-May ITA-JPN 3-2 25-20 28-30 28-30 35-33 15-7 131-120 2:43 10'000