Cairo, Egypt, June 26, 2016 - Egypt fought back from a 2-1 deficit to prevail 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-9) over Japan with Mohamed Abou claiming 19 points in the process.
It was Egypt’s first win on home soil after losing yesterday’s match to Finland. For Japan it is a second loss in Cairo despite captain Kunihiro Shimizu topping the score boards with 21 points.
The match was close from the start. Both sides committed many errors with their serve but Egypt gained a three-point gap before the two teams went point-to point. An ace from Hossam put his team back in the lead 16-13 in the second technical timeout. Ahmed Kotb attacked strongly and led his team to the set victory 25-22.
The second set was also close, with both teams committing a lot of service errors. Japan’s advantage in defence, and Egypt’s own errors, gifted the set the visitor’s way 25-23.
Japan dominated the third set with Shimizu fronting the charge in a one-sided affair 25-21.
But the fans rallied behind the hosts in the fourth and the players refocused with quick attacks by Abdelhalim sending the match to a tie break.
Egypt’s concentration was carried into the fifth and with few errors they took the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.