The 2023 Men's Volleyball Asian Championship is being held in Urmia, Iran. On Saturday, August 26th local time, the Japanese national team faced Iran in the final and won 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-18).
First set starting lineup
Japan
OH: Ai Takahashi, Ishikawa
MB: Onodera, Yamauchi
OP: Nishida
S: Sekita
L: Tomohiro Yamamoto
Iran
OH: Ebadipoor, Salehi
MB: Seyed, Valizadeh
OP: Amin
S: Vadim
L: Hazratpur
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for the match areHere
Match Report
In the first set, Japan scored points mainly from OP Nishida and Iran from OH Ebadipoor, leading to a score of 7-7. From there, Iran took the lead with a 7-9 lead thanks to blocks from MB Mousavi. However, in a rally from MB Yamauchi's serve, OH Takahashi Ai and MB Onodera scored spikes, and Japan successfully turned the game around to 16-13. Iran also scored points from spikes from OH Salehi, but made many mistakes, and Japan maintained the lead and finally won the set with a service ace from MB Yamauchi, 25-20.
In the second set, the score was close at the beginning, but Japan took the lead at 11-8 with a service ace from OH Takahashi Ai. Iran's mistakes and a block from OH Ishikawa further increased the score to 15-10. After that, OP Nishida's service ace and spikes kept Iran at bay, and finally MB Yamauchi's spike was successful, giving Japan the win at 25-18.
In the third set, with both sides making mistakes, MB Onodera's block and spike put Japan ahead 9-6. OH Ishikawa also made two consecutive blocks to make it 12-8, and MB Onodera's service ace made it 14-9, widening the gap for Japan. In the final stages, OP Nishida made two consecutive breaks with a spike from a strong serve, and OH Takahashi Ai also made a final service ace to make it 22-14. Iran also made two consecutive breaks from OH Ebadipoul's serve at the end to get revenge, but Iran's spike ended up being an error, and Japan won the set 25-18, winning 3-0 against Iran.
This was their 10th Asian Championship victory and their first in three tournaments.
personal MVP
Nishida Yuji
15 points (1 serve, 1 block), attack success rate 54%
We finally got to see Nishida in good spirits here. He struggled in the semi-finals the day before, mainly with his serve, and had to be replaced by Miyaura from the second set onwards, but on the court in the finals he transformed that frustration and the booing from the Iranian fans into strength and played energetically. He scored the most points on the team. His attacks had a high success rate and he hardly lost any points. In addition to his powerful spikes, he also used soft shots and rebounds to respond well to the situation. His signature serve also had few aces, but on this day he was able to put many powerful serves into the opponent's court and take a break. After the match, the Iranian fans were calling out "Nishida", so I think it was a very good tournament for him. I hope he keeps up this form and takes on the OQT.
Thoughts etc.
Japan wins!!!
The last time the tournament was held in Japan, we lost 0-3 to Iran in the final, so this time we really got to pay back that debt.
At the beginning of the first set, Japan was playing catch-up with Iran, but they managed to turn the game around with consecutive breaks from Yamauchi's serve, and then they continued to play at Japan's pace until the end of the match, winning without any trouble.
I think this was Japan's best performance of the tournament. In the semi-final against Qatar the day before, they still seemed a bit stiff, but in this final, I got the impression that everyone was able to play freely.
Nishida, mentioned above, in particular, performed quite well in this year's national team matches, even from the VNL perspective. I would have liked to see a few more service aces, but she made few service mistakes and broke down her opponents well, and in terms of attacks, she has lost points in previous matches this year, but I think she didn't lose many of those either (there were some close calls, but they were kept together by super block follow-ups from Yamamoto and Ai).
I've been personally rooting for Miyaura since last season, but I'm really happy to see Nishida back in form. I hope these two best guys will continue to work hard together!
The venue was filled with vuvuzelas (especially when Japan was playing), so it was so loud that you couldn't talk unless you spoke into their ears, but it didn't seem to put much pressure on Japan, probably because they had already experienced that in the semi-finals the day before. In the middle of the first set, Ishikawa and the others were smiling hysterically at the boy wiping the floor, so I felt that they were relaxed from that aspect too.
On the other hand, the Iranian players' movements were poor and they made many mistakes. If anything, the pressure was greater on the Iranians. I think the level of attention on the ground was incomparable to that of Japan when the tournament was held in Japan two years ago. From about the last three points of the third set, the Iranian fans turned their backs on the Japanese team, but this was apparently a "punishment" by the fans against the Iranian team, and it seems like this happens when they play a bad game. It's true that Iran's performance that day was the worst of the tournament, even though the opponent was Japan. I was honestly happy that Japan won, but to be honest, I personally wanted to see a more interesting game.
I was especially looking forward to the Milan teammate showdown between Ishikawa and Ebadipoule, but Ebadipoule was not in good form either. However, after the match, Ebadipoule hugged all the Japanese players to congratulate them on their victory, as you would expect. He is always a gentleman. I also saw Ebadipoule and Ishikawa hugging each other before the awards ceremony. They were teammates for only one season, but they had built a really good relationship. In my interview, he said, "Our friendship will never change."
Another thing that made me personally happy was that Takahashi Ai won the Best Outside Hitter award. There's no doubt that he's a great player, but it was difficult for him to win an individual award because of Ishikawa, who plays in the same position. Ishikawa only won the MVP award, and Takahashi Ai finally got to win an individual award. He's also a player that I interviewed a lot during the club season, and he's a great communicator, so we often talk, and in that sense he's a player I have a personal attachment to, so I was especially happy to see him win an individual award.
However, I wanted to interview Ishikawa, Takahashi Ai, and Nishida after the ceremony, but due to a series of unfortunate events, I was unable to do so. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I came all the way to Urmia, a rural area of Iran, just to interview them after their victory, but the day ended with me feeling really frustrated and filled with all kinds of emotions.
Anyway, the Japanese men's volleyball team has been living up to their word and getting results, winning the bronze medal at the VNL and the Asian Championships. All that's left this year is to grab a ticket to the Paris Olympics! The Olympic qualifiers are being held in Japan, so I won't be able to cover them (unfortunately, Japan is the hardest place to cover them), but I'd like to watch them on TV or at the venue!!
GO to PARIS!!!!
Photo: IRIVF, AVC, photo by author
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