Japan suffered its first defeat at the men’s final qualifying volleyball tournament for this summer’s Athens Olympics in Tokyo on Sunday after going down 3-2 to China.
Japan twice came from behind at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium to level the match at 2-2 but China prevailed 27-25, 20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 18-16 to make it two wins out of two.
In other games, France maintained its perfect start by swatting aside Canada in straight sets, South Korea suffered a second straight defeat after going down in straight sets to unfancied Iran while Australia beat Algeria 3-0.
Only the overall winner and the best Asian team from the eight-team competition will qualify for Athens.
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