Two down, six left to fight for four Olympics spots at Tokyo qualifiers

Tokyo, Japan, May 20, 2016 – The Dominican Republic and Kazakhstan are finished, but the remaining six teams at the Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan still have a chance to get to Rio with two matches remaining.

Italy’s iron grip on the 2016 Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament was loosened by an impressive 3-0 defeat at the hands of The Netherlands, (25-21, 25-21, 25-21).

Italy had been hoping to lock away its qualification for Rio, but instead will have to wait for the weekend to secure one of four Olympic berths available.

Lonneke Sloetjes, already the leading point scorer in the tournament, was devastating throughout the match. The 25-year-old clocked up ten points in the opening set as Italy looked under serious pressure for the first time in the week.

Korea blocked its way to a hard fought 3-1 (18-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-21) win against a brave Peru, inspired by an outstanding individual performance from Yang Hyo-Jin.

Hyo-Jin was part of a defensive wall that blunted wave after wave of attacks from a Peruvian side which needed to win to improve its chance of Olympic qualification.

Teenager Angela Leyva was once again outstanding for Peru, finishing with 23 points despite the difficulties presented by the Korean wall.

Thailand is still in the hunt for a berth at it’s first ever Olympic Games, after beating Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-15).

While the result is good news for Thailand, it also ends the chances of Kazakhstan to get to Rio, having failed to record a victory so far in five matches.

The big question was how would Thailand respond to the …

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