TOKYO, May 30: Australia's men's volleyball team will join tournament winners France at the Athens Olympics despite losing to Iran at the final qualifying event here on Sunday.
The Australians, needing to take just a set in their last match to finish as the top Asian team, crashed to a 19-25, 24-26, 23-25 defeat but still managed to clinch second spot on points difference from China, who beat Canada 25-22, 25-19, 25-17.
France, who had already qualified on Saturday after winning the eight-nation round-robin, trounced winless Algeria 25-16, 25-11, 25-13 to finish the tournament unbeaten.
Hosts Japan managed to save some face by beating their arch-rivals South Korea 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 to wind up the competition. China's win over Canada on Sunday gave them an identical win-loss and set ratio to Australia but they were just outside Australia's points total of 565-510.
Australia and France will join Brazil, Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, Russia, the United States, Argentina, Tunisia, Poland and hosts Greece in Athens, with the last country was to be decided in Madrid later on Sunday. -AFP
