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The story
Japan’s women’s volleyball team swept Iran in straight sets in the bronze-medal match to claim third place. Missing the final meant Japan didn’t earn a Los Angeles Olympics berth through this tournament, but they did lock in qualification for next year’s World Cup. Yukiko Wada led the team with a match-high 19 points. On 5ch, commenters weighed in on the players’ height, defensive weaknesses, confusion over the sheer number of international tournaments, and whether this bronze medal even means anything.
■ Volleyball Asian Championship 2026, Women’s Bronze Medal Match: Japan vs. Iran (the 30th, Japan time, Tianjin, China)
The “Asian Championship 2026” decides Asia’s No. 1 team, with the winner earning a berth at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Japan’s women’s national team (world No. 6) beat Iran (world No. 38) in straight sets, 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 26-24), in the bronze-medal match to take third place.
Although Japan missed out on a Los Angeles Olympics berth at this tournament, they secured a spot at next year’s World Cup. At the 2027 World Cup, the top three finishers — excluding teams that have already qualified for the Olympics — will earn tickets to Los Angeles. The result gives Japan momentum heading into their next shot at an Olympic berth.
Source: newsdig.tbs.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
These heights are way too short now
Kawai said talented girls are getting scooped up by dance instead of volleyball — guess it's true (Kawai is a volleyball commentator)
Well, average height in Japan is trending down overall
Dance and volleyball don't really call for the same body type though, do they?
Some TV show said they went to a high school dance competition and saw a bunch of kids over 170cm with insane athleticism
Offense is inconsistent too — that's how they ended up losing to Thailand
Bahaha lol (´･ω･`)
I have no idea how many there are or how they even rank in importance
It gets them into the World Cup
If they'd won this tournament, the LA Olympics spot would've been locked in
And baseball lost to Venezuela
And that Venezuela team went on to win the whole thing
It does mean something — it gets them into the World Cup
No it doesn't
Even finishing 4th with no medal at all still gets you into the World Cup
Are there really no other tall attackers out there?
I hear Melissa Valdez might be joining, but it's kind of annoying to have people say 'they only won because of a foreign player' (a foreign-born player reportedly set to join the team)
They really dug in when it mattered
Quite the contrast with that embarrassment of a men's soccer team ⚽ (the original uses a derogatory slur mocking the players as effeminate)
Nadeshiko [the women's soccer team] won their tournament though
Weirdly, even after winning, they fired the foreign coach — made no sense
That pretty much kills Japan's LA Olympics hopes lol
They just need to finish in the top 3 at the World Cup
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
This tournament awarded a direct Los Angeles Olympics berth only to the champion, and since Japan missed the final, this bronze medal doesn’t directly translate into an Olympic ticket. What Japan did secure is a spot at next year’s World Cup, where a strong finish would reopen the road to Los Angeles. Thread comments split between “this bronze medal is meaningless” and “it matters because it gets them into the World Cup” — a disagreement partly rooted in confusion over how qualification rules differ between tournaments, since the fact that Olympic qualification hinges on the World Cup standings isn’t easy to grasp from the original article alone. It’s also worth noting that the theories about player height and talent being lost to dance are purely anonymous speculation, not substantiated claims.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Japan Women’s Volleyball Wins Bronze! Straight-Set Victory Over Iran Secures 2027 World Cup Berth — Yukiko Wada Leads Team With 19 Points / Asian Championship“.
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