Japan end 16-year absence from Olympic Games after dramatic win against Argentina in Tokyo

Japanese head coach Tatsuya Ueta is thrown into the air by his players celebrating the Olympic classification. (Photo credit: FIVB) Japan, led by spiker Yusuke Ishijima and the talented Masaji Ogino, saved three match points to beat Argentina in a dramatic encounter 26-28, 25-13, 25-19, 17-25, 20-18. Argentinian team fought hard during 119 dramatic minutes but could not prevent Japan qualification for the eighth time in the Olympic Games. Both teams gave the Tokyo fans a great volleyball show were Takahiro Yamamoto scored 28 points, and Argentinian captain Gustavo Porporatto made 12 for his colours. The Japanese won the gold medal in the Munich Olympic Games 1972, and also conquered the silver medal in Mexico 1968 and the bronze in Tokyo 1964.

After the match, Japanese Head Coach Tatsuya Ueta said to the press: "I am very happy to win today and get the ticket to the Olympics. The players went through very hard training and I think that is why they could come through this tough game and win it. We took this ticket for the Olympics thanks to the efforts of all our players, including those who did not make it into the 12 here. I want to thank them as well".

Japanese Captain Masaji Ogino expressed: "I cannot find any words to say. I am just so, so happy because there were many, many hopes on me and now I can finally stand here. I want to thank all my teammates and fans".

Meanwhile, the Italians, unbeaten leaders of this event after six matches, dismissed Thailand in three tough sets 25-19, 25-19, 26-24. The world N° 10 outclassed the lively south-east Asians to stay on top of the eight-team standings with one match to go and a place in Beijing beckoning. Big gun spiker was Thailand's Wanchai Tabwises who scored 20 points, while Alberto Cisolla made 16 for the Italian side. On Sunday Italy will face Argentina. An "Azurri" victory will give them immediately the tickets en.beijing2008.cn http:>tickets/index.shtml' target=_blank>Olympic tickets as winners of the FIVB Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

"A game that may seem easy like this has a difficult point", said the Italian Captain Alberto Cisolla. "When playing against a team like this we may easily lose our concentration, and in fact we showed a lack of concentration in the third set. The most important thing is to win a match and go to the Olympics. We will only think about victory for the match tomorrow (against Argentina)".

In a morning encounter played on Saturday, Korea won their third straight match holding off Iran 3-1. The fighting Koreans improved their win-loss record to 3-3 by taming Iran 25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22. Iran dropped to 1-5 with one match left. Korea's star player Moon Sung-Min was the man of the match as he scored 15 points, the same as the Iranian spiker Mohammad Kazem.

"I am very happy to win this game, but from the second set Iran had a very strategic serve that caused us some problems", said the Korean Captain Choi Tae-Woong to the press.

Later, Australia ended a run of three defeats by beating Algeria 3-1. The reigning Asian champions improved their win-loss record to 3-3 with a 25-22, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20 victory over the African outsiders. Algeria, ranked 60th in the world compared to Australia's 11th, dropped to 2-4 with this fourth straight defeat. "Aussie" Nathan Roberts was the best scorer of this match with 19 points, position shared with Algerian Mohamed Chikhi.

"Today I think at times both teams were a little error-prone", expressed the Australian Head Coach Russell Borgeaud, "and certainly our guys were a little physically tired after last night, with a short turnaround time. It was good to see that some of the young players were able to come into the game and play very well. Credit to Algeria. They had some outstanding players and made us work very hard for the victory".

(Credit: FIVB. Click here for further information.)