Press release

Tokyo, Japan, June 2, 2012 - Australia and Serbia are the only unbeaten teams with a 2-0 win-loss record and six points to their name as the second day of the joint AVC and FIVB Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament concluded in Tokyo on Saturday.

Iran are shadowing the leaders with five points from two wins, followed by China on four and host nation Japan, who won their first match of the tournament by defeating Venezuel. 

The medallists at the end of the eight?team round?robin event plus the best Asian team will earn tickets to the men's volleyball tournament at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Australia v Puerto Rico

Australia went 2-0 in the FIVB Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament on Saturday with their second straight 3-0 victory. The Australians overcame Puerto Rico 25-14, 25-19, 25-20 at Tokyo’s Metropolitan Gymnasium. It was Puerto Rico’s second straight loss.

Edgar Thomas led Australia with 19 points, including five blocks and three service points. Adam White had 13. Puerto Rico’s leading scorer was Ulises Maldonado with nine points. The Australians led on blocking 11-4 and on serving, 4-2.

Australia's Jon Uriarte explained their victory; "Today was a serious challenge for us. Puerto Rico is a consistent team with excellent players. For our team, the challenge was to keep to the plan that gave us an advantage where we were stronger. It was a good day and the team put in a good mental effort. While we kept the keys to the match, sometimes it was clear the mental effort was still a challenge for us sometimes."

Carlo Cardena on the other hand had little to say. "Our spikes were stopped by their block. We just couldn’t play our game", he explained

China v Iran

Iran edged China 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 29-31, 25-15, 15-13) in a thrilling five-set match. Hamzeh Zarini led Iran with 27 points, while China’s top scorer was Bian Hongmin with 16. China outblocked Iran 14-4, but Iran outserved their opponents 12-3.

"I’m very happy with this win because we knew China is one of the best teams in the competition," Iran coach Julio Velasco said. "Also, we lost to them in the World Cup, so we knew it would be difficult to win. We have worked hard on our reception and yesterday and today our reception was really good."

"Today’s game was a great game and close but I think our players played an excellent match," China coach Zhou Jianan explained.  "But we have to improve our reception and serving. Our serving was inferior under pressure, which allowed easy attacks by Iran. We lost 2-3, but our players fought well and put on a good performance".

Korea v Serbia

Serbia showed consistency when they defeated Korea 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 17-25, 25-12) on their second day.

Nikola Kovacevic led Serbia with 15 points, while Kim Hak-Min scored 13 for Korea. Serbia outblocked Korea 11-6, but Korea had the edge in serves, 4-2. But 34 errors let Serbia take the match.

”We are happy with this victory," said a relieved Serbias coach Igor Kolakovic. "After the second set we were a bit tired and we played the set without energy, but we came back after that in the right way and managed to get a very important victory."

Korea coach Park Ki-Won had to face one more loss for his team: ”One of the reason for today’s loss was the inexperience of our young players. They couldn’t recover due to this inexperience.One of the reason for today’s loss was the inexperience of our young players."

Japan v Venezuela

Japan survived a tough encounter with Venezuela with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 32-30) win.

Japan is now 1-1, while Venezuela dropped their second straight game.

Tatsuya Fukuzawa was the top scorer with 21 points, while Kervin Pinerua led Venezuela with 19.

Japan outblocked Venezuela 5-4 and outserved them 6-3. Venezuela committed 31 errors to Japan’s 17.

Sunday and Monday are rest days. 

On Tuesday the tournament's highest ranked Asian team Australia will face second ranked Asian team Iran, while Puerto Rico will meet Venezuela. China meet European Championship holders Serbia and Japan will face Korea.