TIANJIN, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Japan became the first team to reach the quarterfinals of the 2026 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship after beating South Korea 3-0 on Sunday for its second straight win.
World No. 6 Japan entered the tournament as the title favorite, but South Korea provided stiff resistance, particularly in a tightly contested opening set. Neither side was able to pull away before Japan eventually prevailed 33-31.
South Korea continued to challenge in the second set, with the teams tied at 14-14 before Japan stepped up its serving and pulled clear to win 25-19.
In the third, South Korea rallied from seven points down to cut Japan's lead to 22-20, but could get no closer as Japan scored the final three points to seal the set 25-20 and complete the sweep.
"Today's match was certainly not satisfactory in terms of our performance. I hope we can regroup and make full preparations for the matches ahead," said Yoshino Sato, who scored a match-high 18 points.
Under the competition format, the top two teams from each pool and the two best third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals. Japan tops Pool C with two wins from two matches and has secured a quarterfinal berth with one match remaining.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Chinese Taipei cruised past Iraq 25-5, 25-8, 25-11 for its first victory of the tournament.
Despite Iraq's second straight defeat, head coach Randy Matti Afram said his team's priority was to gain experience against stronger Asian opposition.
"We hope to gain experience from major tournaments, learn from our mistakes and lay the foundation for becoming a better team in the future," Afram said.
Kazakhstan also picked up its first win with a 3-0 victory over Australia.
China will face Iran in its second pool match on Monday. Enditem
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