At the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games women’s volleyball competition, Japan trailed China 0-2 in sets but built an 8-point lead at one point in the third set — only to watch it slip away and lose in straight sets. The defeat ended Japan’s shot at its first gold medal in 48 years. On 5ch, discussion ranged from analysis of the late-match collapse, to questions about a lineup that left out key players like Mayu Ishikawa, to theories on why China is strong specifically at volleyball despite generally struggling in team sports.
Sports Hochi, September 22, 2026, 8:53 PM
Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Day 4, Volleyball (September 22, Komaki City Sports Park General Gymnasium)
Pushed to the brink at 0-2 in sets against China, Japan rallied in the third set but couldn’t hold on, falling in straight sets, 0-3.
Source: hochi.news / Read the original article here
Wada's so cool, right?
Like a cheetah.
What even was that.
It was 10-2, an 8-point gap — even worse than you think.
Re: #34
The gap in ability was just too huge in sets 1 and 2, so they basically let the host nation Japan have its moment of glory.
Compared to some weak sport strutting around at 8th in Asia and 32nd in the world,
I'd say they did well.
There was a country that made the top 8 out of only 8 qualifying nations, back around March this year.
Baseball's such a non-sport that just showing up gets you a top-3 finish.
Baseball: a super-minor pastime ranked below women's sports.
Honestly Thailand's the stronger team — they just got a lucky bracket draw.
Baseball, rugby, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, badminton
Weak sport that can't even win in Asia:
Ball-kicking (i.e., soccer)
Baseball isn't even played worldwide or across Asia, lol.
Can they even make the Olympics at this rate?
No chance.
Thailand, ranked lower than Japan, already grabbed an Olympic berth.
There's a chance a lower-ranked country snags next year's World Cup spot too,
and if that happens, Japan would have to fight it out with China and European teams instead.
I think of Harry from Street Sliders (the rock band).
"The Japan basketball team that lost to Korea was just third-string, lol"
Korean guy:
"That's disrespectful to the Japanese players who fought hard"
"Trashing your own country just to hate on Korea"
Lol.
Thanks, big bro.
They're not going to get any stronger once they're adults anyway.
Well, they might still grow taller…
That can totally flip the momentum, and I thought maybe that would happen this time too — but what a shocking turn of events instead.
I didn't actually watch it, but
if they lost 0-3 in straight sets, wasn't the momentum bad from the very start anyway?
Isn't it just that they're bad at soccer?
Men's basketball and volleyball aren't even that strong for them either though.
so why the heck are they so bad at soccer?
Big population means they dominate the "height game" sports.
Soccer can be played even by short guys, so it doesn't favor them.
Soccer's a sport where unless you're an insanely gifted talent, one player can't really do much alone.
It's a sport where two or three brilliant plays have to line up in a row before you actually score.
Unlike basketball or volleyball, height alone doesn't give you an edge. Also, soccer is by far the most popular sport in the Middle East, so competition within Asia is fierce there — China can't even beat the Middle Eastern powers to begin with.
In soccer, China's only on par with Southeast Asian teams.
Mayu Ishikawa wasn't even there.
Whether she's there or not doesn't make much of a difference.
It's to test out new talent — Ishikawa's sulking and sat this one out.
Background and Talking Points
Japan’s pursuit of “its first gold medal in 48 years” reflects a long history of being blocked by Asian powerhouses like China and Korea. This time, after falling behind 0-2 in sets, Japan built as much as an 8-point lead in the third set, only to get caught and lose in straight sets — an unusual kind of collapse that posters framed less as a simple talent gap and more as a full-blown “mental meltdown.” Opinions in the thread split over how to judge the loss: some argued that fielding a lineup without key players like Mayu Ishikawa meant the team “wasn’t serious,” while others pointed out that the Asian Games carry different weight than the Olympics, and that prioritizing match experience for next-generation players in this kind of tournament isn’t unusual. There was also plenty of discussion — some of it surprisingly technical — about why China, which struggles in most team ball sports, is strong specifically in volleyball, with many posts pointing to whether a given sport rewards height rather than any simple theory about national strength. Comments mocking players’ looks or veering into race or politics have been excluded from this article.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Women’s Volleyball] Japan’s 48-Year Gold Medal Dream Dies — Crushed 0-3 by China in a Nightmare Collapse After Blowing a Massive 8-Point Lead in Set 3…Asian Games.”
