Japan men’s volleyball team suffers heartbreak at Paris Olympics

Gianluca Galassi, of Italy, left, comforts Ran Takahashi, of Japan, at the end of the men’s quarterfinal volleyball match between Italy and Japan at the Paris Olympics 2024, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

PARIS — The Japanese men’s volleyball team lost a nail-biting quarterfinal to Italy at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Monday, crushing its hope to advance to the top four for the first time in 48 years since the Montreal Games in 1976.

Captain Yuki Ishikawa scored key points and Japan took the first two sets 25-20, 25-23. It led 24-21 in the third set before 2022 world champion Italy stormed back to win 25-27, 24-26, and 15-17 in the final set.

Japan squandered numerous match points along the way.

Team ace Ishikawa, who had been in a slump in the pool stage, led an onslaught in the first two sets. He scored a team-high 32 points over the match with a flurry of powerful spikes from the beginning.

However, Japan made serving errors at key points in the match. Despite reaching a score of 15-14 in the final set, the team suffered a heartbreaking defeat.

“I feel responsible for this loss,” Ishikawa said.

Yuki Ishikawa and Ran Takahashi, of Japan, react during a men’s quarter final volleyball match between Italy and Japan at the Paris Olympics 2024, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Japan has learned the latest tactical trends under head coach Philippe Blain, who has also served in the past as the French national team’s head coach. The team had momentum going into the Olympics, thanks to its second-place finish at the 2024 Nations League competition.

They have grown to the point where Japan was aiming to win the gold medal in Paris. And even though Japan lost, the team showed resilience against its strong opponent, honed over the three years since the Tokyo Olympics, when it finished in the top eight.

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“We didn’t get the results we wanted, but we were a great team,” Ishikawa said.

Blain has served as national coach since 2017 and was promoted to head coach after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Blain, 64, announced Monday that he would resign at the end of the Paris Olympics.

After the match against Italy, he said this was the last time he would lead Japan and that he was proud of all the growth they had achieved so far.