Needing a straight-sets win over Slovenia on the penultimate day of Olympic qualifying in Tokyo, Japan earned a spot in next year's Paris Olympics men's tournament with a 25-21, 25-22, 25-18 victory Saturday.
Japan improved to 5-1 in Pool B at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, trailing the United States, which had already booked one of the two spots on offer for Paris after an unbeaten 6-0 start.
Slovenia and Japan entered Saturday's match with 4-1 records. Even if both finished the pool on Sunday with 5-2 records, the tie-breaker would be decided by whichever team had a better sets-won percentage, which would be Japan by virtue of its 3-0 victory.
Japan's captain, Yuki Ishikawa, top-scored for his team with 15 points.
"Although we found ourselves in really tough situations, we were able to get this result because we fought with belief in ourselves," Ishikawa said. "I think this is the best team we could have had, and we were able to prove our strength to everyone."
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