Japan missed a chance to advance to the semifinals of the men's volleyball tournament at the Paris Olympics on Monday, August 5 after dropping a five-set match to reigning world champion Italy.
Japan won the first two sets at South Paris Arena 1 and looked well on its way to advancing to the semifinals for the first time in 48 years.
In the third set, Japan had three match points and couldn't put its opponent away. The Italians rallied to win the set 27-25.
Japan never seemed to recover from that and Italy won the final two sets for a 20-25, 23-25, 27-25, 26-24, 17-15 win over Japan.
"We had our chances but couldn't capitalize," said Japan captain Yuki Ishikawa, who led his team with 32 points. "Our goal here was to win a medal and we weren't able to achieve that so it is very regrettable."
In the end, the Italians had a more balanced attack with five of their players reaching double-digits in points. Alessandro Michieletto finished with a team-high 24 points. In addition, Italy had 15 blocks to Japan's two.
Other than Ishikawa, the only other Japanese players to reach 10 or more points were Yuji Nishida (22) and Ran Takahashi (16).
Japan had one win and two losses in the preliminary round but advanced after taking a set in its final opening-round 3-1 loss to the United States.
Brief History of Japan Volleyball Squad
Japan medaled at the first three editions of the Olympic volleyball tournament, including a gold medal at the Munich Games in 1972.
The last time Japan reached the final four was in Montreal in 1976 when it lost to Poland.
But Japan then failed to qualify in all but one of the Olympiads from 1996 through 2016.
At the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, Japan finished seventh, its best result in 29 years, and renewed national interest in the men's team.
End of an Era for Japan Volleyball Team
French coach Philippe Blain was hired in 2021 and has helped raise the level of play for the team, which allowed it to finish second in its pool at Olympic qualifying tournament.
It was Blain's last game with Japan and that added to the sense of regret.
"We are sad," a tearful Blain said after Monday's match. "It was a very close match, we were so close to reaching the semifinals, but we can be proud of what we achieved here. This was our best match of the tournament."
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Author: Jim Armstrong
The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for over 25 years. You can find his articles on SportsLook.
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