Serhan Coskun is trying to find the way past the Japan's two-man block
Cairo, Egypt, June 24, 2016 - Gokhan Gokgoz scored 20 points as Turkey prevailed over Japan 3-2 (20-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-20, 15-10) coming from behind in the Pool E2 encounter on Friday night.
The next best-scorer for Turkey was Baturalp Burak Gungor with 20 points while Japan's Kunihiro Shimizu scored match-high 26 points.
Turkey claimed the fourth consecutive victory in this year's competition dropping only three sets. Japan's last seven World League matches alternated between wins and losses.
This was the first World League meeting between these countries.
Early set one saw a point-by-point race until Japan went narrowly in front 12-10. Turkey found no answer to this and dropped the set 25-20.
In the second set Japan managed to deliver good performance, going to an early 5-2 lead. Kunihiro Shimizu was penetrating the court on Turkey's side contributing to a 25-19 victory.
In the third set Turkey refused to give up and went in front 4-3 for the first time in this match. Both teams showed a solid performance in the middle phase of the set which resulted in a rather tight dispute. Finally Turkey put the gas pedal on and ebetually closed out the set at 25-19.
The beginning of set four was in Japan's favour who went up 8-7 at the first technical timeout, but later an ace and some great kills gave Turkey the 16-14 lead. Japan managed to tie the score at 19-19 but it was Turkey who delivered better performance towards the end to finish the set off at 25-20.
In the fifth and decisive set Turkey took the initiative right from the start establishing a three-point advantage which they managed to convert into a 15-10 success.