TOKYO, 31 May 2004 — The Australian men’s volleyball team will join tournament winners France at the Athens Olympics despite losing to Iran at the final qualifying event here yesterday.
The Australians, needing to take just a set in their last match to finish as the top Asian team, crashed to a 19-25, 24-26, 23-25 defeat but still managed to clinch second spot on points difference from China, who beat Canada 25-22, 25-19, 25-17. France, who had already qualified Saturday after winning the eight-nation round-robin, trounced winless Algeria 25-16, 25-11, 25-13 to finish the tournament unbeaten.
Hosts Japan managed to save some face by beating their arch rivals South Korea 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 to wind up the competition.
“It was nice to play without pressure. We made a very good job before. We must now prepare for the Olympic Games,” said a relieved Stephane Antiga after France’s seventh straight win. French coach Philippe Blain said: “My players were very focused even during the last game, we found a lot of unity among the team. We came into the tournament with good preparation, and now we will start preparation to make a good performance in Athens.”
Australian captain Daniel Howard admitted that his team, now looking to improve on their eighth-place finish at the Sydney Olympics where they qualified as hosts, had not played well yesterday.
Australia’s Argentinean coach Jon Uriarte also said he was disappointed by the loss.
“I was told by my staff that we needed at least one set to qualify, but in any case I was really disappointed about what we did today.”
Uriarte was also angered by Iranian captain Peyman Akbari’s comment that his team “played for the pride of the Asian countries — Iran, China, Japan, Korea”. The coach hit out at the “discrimination” against Australia, which belongs to volleyball’s Asian Confederation.
China’s win over Canada yesterday gave them an identical win-loss and set ratio to Australia but they were just outside Australia’s points total of 565-510. Australia and France will join Brazil, Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, Russia, the United States, Argentina, Tunisia, Poland and hosts Greece in Athens, with the last country decided in Madrid later.
