MATCH INFO

Sapporo, Japan, November 12, 2011 - Press Conference, Japan v Korea: The hosts Japan came back after a tough three-set loss on Friday to beat the Koreans in three on Saturday. Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe had made a number of adjustments to ensure his team bounced back well.

Japan coach Masayosi Manabe: Last night we lost to Serbia but we still managed to keep a fresh outlook and focus on today. That’s why we could take this win.

On different starting rotation: Saori was really good today, on a good pace. I decided to start her in the front row. Actually it’s not a gamble - I’ve been considering it for the whole tournament, and it worked today. Also we wanted to adjust our rotation in order to counter Kim Yeon-Koung. We didn’t want Saori Kimura matched up directly against her. However they also changed their starting rotation, and ended up matching up against her. But I think today our defense was strong and that’s why we could pull out the victory.

On Yuko Sano and Yukiko Ebata: Sano was great today, especially her service reception. For Ebata, the first and second sets were good, but in the third the Koreans targeted her so she couldn’t attack as well as before.

On subbing two people (Nakamichi and Yamaguchi) at once to change the setter: Subbing two at once is tricky, it can go good or bad depending on the pace of the game. We used Nakamichi so we don’t need to use Takeshita up front. I think Yamaguchi played well; she doesn’t miss very much. So overall I think this move was a good one.

Japan captain Erika Araki: It was a long-awaited win for our team, and I’m really glad we could beat the Korean team today. It was good to work on our defense, and our substitutions - 7 for 3 [Mai Yamaguchi for Yoshie Takeshita] and 2 for 13 [Hitomi Nakamichi for Risa Shinnabe] - worked well. Player 9 [Mizuho Ishida] served well off the bench too.

Japanese player Yoshie Takeshita: It was a tough game, but [Saori] Kimuri and [Yukiko] Ebata worked realy well together, and our defense was especially good with Sano digging well.

Korea coach Kim Hyung-Sil: Today we practiced our defense a lot. And for our player number 6 [Choi Youn-Ok], it was her first time in an international tournament. She has less experience in comparison to Saori Kimura and Yukiko Ebata. Both those two have better technique and experience, so she had trouble blocking them. Tomorrow we need to focus on defense as well against China.

On setter Kim Sa-Nee’s absense in the tournament: She has the all-Korean league so she couldn’t join us this time. So we don’t have our all our best players. She also hurt her shoulder and she’s still fresh from rehab. She’s trying to come back to help us qualify for the Olympics.

Korea captain Kim Se-Young: We needed to push a little more somehow today. I think we need to improve our combinations.

Korea player Kim Yeon-Koung: Simply put, we just need to practice more. We’d like to beat Japan next time.

On what made the difference today: There’s not a big difference, it’s just a little. But Japan dug more balls today, it’s not a big difference.