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The First Men's Olympic Place Is Decided Sunday 👀
Australia, Korea, Japan and Iran won the quarter-finals in Kitakyushu. No men's team anywhere in the world has qualified for Los Angeles yet, and one of these four will have by Sunday night.
Australia, Korea, Japan and Iran won the four quarter-finals in Kitakyushu, and one of them will have an Olympic place by Sunday night.
Australia beat Thailand 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-19) and Korea beat China 3-1 (17-25, 25-21, 25-22, 29-27) on Thursday. Japan beat India 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-19) on Friday night and Iran beat Chinese Taipei 3-1.
We cannot give you Iran's set scores. Several Iranian outlets carry the result and the semi-final draw, none of them will open to us, and the confederation's own results page returns a 404.
Thailand reached their first quarter-final in eleven years, on Khaosod English's count, having played ten sets across the only two five-set matches this tournament produced. Australia took it in three and Lorenzo Pope scored 17 of their points at 56 percent.
Korea Needed a 29-27 Fourth Set
Korea lost the first set 25-17 and then won three, the last of them 29-27. Im Dong-hyeok and Heo Su-bong scored 21 points each, with Lee Sang-hyun on 14 and Lim Sung-jin on 11.
China led after one set and lost the other three. Li Yongzhen and Wang Bin scored 16 each, Wen Zihua 13, and the match was gone in four.
Thailand's three double-figure scorers were Thanat Bamrungphakdi on 15, Napadet Bhinijdee on 13 and Chaiwat Thungkham on 12.
Japan arrived at the quarter-finals having lost one set in the whole tournament, and India were the eighth seed.
They beat Oman 3-1, Bahrain 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-23) and Australia 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-21) in the pool stage, and the set Oman took is the only one they had dropped before Friday. Nate Sheridan at VolleyballMag has Yuji Nishida taking a match-high 16 points off Australia.
Roughly 6,500 people watched Japan open the tournament at the Kitakyushu City Gymnasium.
The Confederation and the FIVB Disagree on the Prize
The AVC says the top three qualify for the 2027 FIVB World Championship. The FIVB says the top three qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Poland, and Volleyball World says the same.
Both are official and we are not picking one. What nobody disputes is that the champion goes to Los Angeles, and that is the only part of this that decides an Olympic field.
The Men Have Not Qualified Anybody Yet
Four women's places have gone. Canada took NORCECA's in Santo Domingo, Thailand took Asia's in Tianjin, Egypt took Africa's in Nairobi and Turkiye took Europe's in Istanbul, all of them inside the last three weeks.
The men have got none of them. Europe's men are still in their pool stage, the Americas' men opened on Friday morning in Moncton, and the winner in Kitakyushu on Sunday will be the first men's team anywhere in the world to qualify.
India were swept by both Iran and China in the pool stage and got to the last eight on results elsewhere, then drew the hosts.
Iran play Australia in one semi-final on Saturday, which leaves Japan and Korea in the other. The host nation is one of the four.
