GUANGZHOU: Japan battled from two sets down to beat defending champions South Korea 3-2 in the Asian Games men's volleyball semifinals on Wednesday, moving closer to their first title in four editions.
The win sets them up with a gold medal clash on Friday against the winners of the second semifinal between Iran and Thailand.
"I want to compete with Iran definitely. We lost to them once, so we want to beat them if possible," said Japan's Kunihiro Shimizu, who scored a game-high 22 points, including 17 by spikes, in the two-hour duel.
Japan head coach Tatsuya Ueda said: "We played well in defence in the last three sets. Everyone tried so hard. I am very happy right now."
South Korea took the first set 27-25 as Japan gave two points to errors after both sides hit and blocked evenly.
After losing the second set, Japan took the third as South Korea struggled to return hits and serves. South Korea squandered a 8-5 lead in the fourth stanza.
At 14-9 match point for Japan in the fifth set, South Korea's Moon Sung-Min kept the game alive with a heavy hit. But Japan went on scoring with Tatsuya Fukuzawa hammering down their final kill.
"I was not in good condition with my service," Fukuzawa said. "Fortunately, I calmed down in the last two sets. I hope I can perform better in the final."
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