Shin Yungsuk and coach Moon Yong-Kwan of Korea during press conference
Osaka, Japan, June 20, 2015 - Japan easily beat their Asian Pool D rival Korea on Saturday with a 3-0 win (25-17, 25-17, 25-17). Japan's coach Masashi Nambu and his captain Kunihiro Shimizu expected to face a tougher Korean squad here in Osaka, having lost to Korea last week.
Japan captain Kunihiro Shimizu: Last week we had a win and a loss against Korea, but in the second match they were serving really hard, giving us problems on reception. So I expected Korea would be serving really hard today as well, but that wasn’t quite the case. Early in the third set it was close, but we needed to take the advantage. When they get ahead they serve hard, so keeping the lead over Korea was critical for us.
Japan player Hiroaki Asano: I’m really happy with our service today. I think all of our members did what they needed to do today, and that’s the biggest reason that we won today.
Japan coach Masashi Nambu: Compared to last week’s matches, especially the second one (which Korea won 3-0), Korea was a very different team today than we saw previously. Our team was serving quite well today, and I think that’s why we won.
On Japanese player Hiroaki Asano (MVP of today's match): He’s very small (178cm) but he has a powerful attack, and his control is really nice. His defensive talents are also quite strong. When he serves, I don’t tell him how to serve. He has good variety, and can always pick the right sort of serve to suit the situation.
Korea captain Shin Yung-Suk: Japan played well today, and we just didn’t. We have five more matches in World League, and I hope we can reset ourselves and get ready for a better match tomorrow. I want to treat tomorrow as if it’s the final match of our World League campaign.
Korea coach Moon Yong-Kwan: I thought this was a match that we lost completely. I don’t have any words to explain it. Japan did what they needed to do today, and we didn’t. And that’s why we lost today. Today was not a conditioning problem. Our players need to be at their best in every match. We will not be in the World Cup this year with Japan, Iran, and Australia getting in. So the next important matches for us will be the Asian Championship, and I hope we can get some experience in these World Leage matches so I can select the best team to go forward in that tournament.