Komaki, Japan, August 29, 2009 – Japan took a big step forward on the road to Italy and the 2010 FIVB World Championship by winning their second straight match of the Asian Pool H qualifying tournament at Park Arena Komaki on Saturday.

The hosts followed up their 3-1 victory over Kazakhstan on Friday by toppling Iran by the same score and becoming the only team of the four to win two games.

Iran and Korea both have one win against one defeat, while Kazakhstan have lost both games, meaning that the two qualifying places for Italy will be decided on Sunday. The third and final day of the round-robin competition will open with Iran taking on Kazakhstan before Japan renew their fierce regional rivalry with Korea.

Korea came back from two sets down to beat Kazakhstan 3-2 (23-25, 18-25, 25-16, 25-19, 15-5) and keep alive their hopes of World Championship qualification, before Japan beat Iran 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17).

In the first game of the second day, dubbed “The Survival Match,” the Koreans had to go the distance again, but this time ran away with the tiebreak 15-5 after losing the deciding set the previous day to Iran.

Kazakhstan had been in control of the match, winning the first two sets 25-23, 25-18. The Koreans had no answer to the nonchalant spiking skills of the 2.10-metre Svyatoslav Miklashevich, who scored points as easily as swatting flies.

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