"Witches of the Orient" Return to Rio
Let's see how many of you folks remember the "Witches of the Orient". Nothing to do witchcraft but just an expression to denote a bunch of women from Asia who made history by grabbing gold medals in the women's volleyball in 1964 winning five games straight with only set lost.
Tokyo hosted the Olympics that year and Japan's women's volleyball team out-volleyed the Russians to win the gold medals. The feat won them the prestigious title "Witches of the Orient".
Why an age-old story in 2016? Well, it's a sentimental journey back to the good old days - but for some good reason, too. Japan has a promising team ready to challenge Rio. The following is the story of another bunch of girls who have just won their tickets to Rio.
The world's final qualifier is an 8-team round robin and Japan played its 6th game with Italy on May 21 and lost but made it to Rio for four Olympiads in a row. Japan had an option of topping all Asian teams or of placing third or above among all the remaining seven teams except the top team.
In the 6th game against Italy, May 21, Japan was after two sets to cinch the fourth place with point 1 or over. The game opened with Italy quickly piling 6 consecutive points in the first few minutes. But Captain Saori Kimura then managed to return crucial spikes to win the opening set 25-23.
Italy won the 2nd and 3rd sets both 27-25 to lead the game. The 4th set, however, offered Captain Kimura another stage for her brilliant performance Japan won the game 25-21. At that point Japan had piled up two winning sets necessary to grab its ticket to Rio. The final set was won by Italy 15-9 and Japan lost the game
The final 7th game is due on May 22 against the Netherlands.
So, we have the 2nd generation "Witches of the Orient" ready to hopefully revive that thrilling sensation back again. (Nathan Shiga)
#火の鳥NIPPON は3位で終了 2016リオデジャネイロオリンピック世界最終予選兼アジア大陸予選大会 #バレーボールOQT -https://t.co/GqWB1wfCKa pic.twitter.com/bKGrFCpFLm
— 公益財団法人日本バレーボール協会 (@JVA_Volleyball) 2016年5月22日
