Xuancheng, China, July 1,2016—The opening match saw Turkey stun Japan in straight sets (25-21, 25-20, 25-22 ) at the World League 2016 with Metin Toy top-scoring for the European side with 11 points.
An all-round team performance from Turkey with Toy leading the way with 11 points, alongside teammate Mustafa Koc, with 10 points, gave the European side victory, whilst Japan's Masahiro Yanagida led his side in vain with 15 points.
The first set saw Turkey showing their poise against Japan in World League pool play. Powerful spikes and a few unforced errors by Japan gave Turkey leads of 8-4 and 16-11 at the technical time outs. Japan found themselves playing catch up throughout the set and Turkey never trailed. A missed service by Japan gave Turkey set point at 24-20. Turkey won set one convincingly 25-21.
Set two started as a tight affair as both teams traded points and it was Japan that reached a narrow lead at 8-7 at the first technical time out. The Turkey squad found their composure and got on track as they expanded their lead and never looked back. Eventually, Turkey maintained their lead to take the set 25-20.
In set three, both teams worked hard for every point. Turkey opened up a lead, and at the first technical time out was up 8-6. They continued to capitalize on the momentum and take a close lead at 16-13 at the second technical timeout. Turkey then scored sequentially to break free from the slim advantage while Japan were chasing and leveled up at 21-21 and 22-22. It was Turkey team who won the third set at 25-22 sealing the straight victory 3-0.