With 21 points from their star opposite, the Asians topped the South Americans 3-1 in a critical match and moved up to second place in Pool C
Nishida’s point scoring was tremendously important for Japan
Under pressure after their opening-match defeat to Germany, Japan responded immediately and strongly to secure their first victory in the men’s tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday against Argentina.
In the second match of the day at the South Paris Arena 1, the Ryujin Nippon recovered their best game and dominated the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists to produce a critical 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23) win that significantly changed their situation in Pool C.
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Now with four points, the Japanese are in second place and are almost guaranteed in the quarterfinals – they can still finish first in the pool if they beat pool leaders the United States, who have five and are qualified, on Friday, at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT). The set won by Argentina didn’t get them any points, but was enough to keep the South Americans alive in the tournament as they can now finish third ahead of Germany if they manage to beat the Europeans, who have three points, in three sets when the teams meet on Friday at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT) – to advance, they would still need to be one of the two best third-placed teams.
“This was a critical match for us here in Paris and we’re so happy that we won,” setter Masahiro Sekita said. “We tried to change some things from the first match and that helped us win. We had a lot of pressure coming into this match, but we handled it well and could have a good performance. The United States will be a strong opponent but we’ll stick to our plan and the way we play.”
Japan’s fourth consecutive victory over Argentina also returned them to third place in the FIVB World Rankings as the Asians managed to pass France and Slovenia with the 5.20 points they earned with the triumph, bringing their total up to 352.90.
Ran Takahashi hits around the Argentinean block
Star opposite Yuji Nishida was on fire and accounted for the vast majority of the Japanese offensive production against the Argentineans, producing a match-high 21 points (16 kills, five aces). Outside hitter Ran Takahashi (14), middle blocker Taishi Onodera (12) and captain Yuki Ishikawa (11) also had solid performances.
“We came into this match knowing it was going to be different than the one against Germany,”…
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