Olympic Dream Alive as Volleyroos Secure a Top Eigth Spot at Asian Champs

The Australian men’s volleyball team has progressed to
the semi-finals of the Asian Championships in Iran, earning themselves a ticket
to January’s continental Olympic qualification tournament in the process.

 

The Aussies have won all of their matches to date, which
saw them top Pool E and then rally from two sets to love down, to defeat
Pakistan 3-2 in their quarter-final clash.

 

However, the bigger prize at stake, was making sure they
were one of eight Asian nations in the hunt to challenge for the one available continental
spot on offer at January’s Olympic qualifiers in Tokyo.

 

They will now head into the qualifiers with great
confidence, after defeating Asian powerhouse Iran on their own home court
during the pool phase.

 

The Australian squad currently contesting the Asian
Championships in Tehran includes five Western Australian squad members. Max
Staples, Luke Perry, Sam Walker, Luke Smith and Nicholas
Butler have all received court time in Iran and will be hoping to earn
selection for the all-important team to compete in January.

 

Australia risked crashing out of the Asian Championships
however, when Pakistan secured a strong early advantage, needing to win just a
single set from the remaining three, after taking a two-set lead.

 

With pride on the line, the Volleyroos responded in the
best possible way, reeling off three crucial sets (25-18, 25-14 and 15-13 in
the deciding fifth set) to win the match.

 

With the Australians having just a 12-hour turnaround
between their cross-over match and their quarterfinal with Pakistan, coach Mark
Lebedew said his team’s experience got them out of trouble.

 

“It was a very
hard day at the office today in Tehran after a short turn around, we had a
cross over match then 12 hours later a quarter final.

 

It was about as
tough a scheduling as you could have, we tried to manage the workload of the
players today.

 

“It didn’t work
out to plan, Pakistan played the first two sets with perfect tactics and
without mistakes and we needed to really keep our cool, that was important
because to be down 0-2 in a game you are expected to win is a tough mental
challenge but we have just enough experience now in the team that we could stay
calm, that we could refocus, we had a hairy moment at the end of the 5th, I’m
really happy that we are in the semi-finals.”

 

Australia will
play either Japan or China in the semi-finals.