Komaki, Japan, August 28, 2009 — Iran and Japan made winning starts to the Asian Pool H qualifying tournament for the 2010 FIVB World Championship at Park Arena Komaki on Friday.

Iran beat Korea 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-17, 15-12) in the opening match of the four-team round-robin before Japan held off Kazakhstan 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 25-16) in the evening showpiece to send the local supporters home happy.

With Kazakhstan to play on Saturday, followed by Japan on Sunday, the pressure is really on the Koreans to win both games in order to finish in the top two and qualify for the 2010 World Championship in Italy.

Korea started their game against Iran without danger man Moon Sung-Min, who had a slight elbow injury, according to head coach Kim Ho-Chul.

This proved to be a major talking point after the game for Iran’s head coach, Hossein Madani.

“I am happy with the result but I am not completely satisfied with my players because I think our strength is more than this,” he said.

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