June 09, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 04, 1429

TOKYO, June 8: Three-time former world champions Italy on Sunday won the last men’s volleyball ticket to the Beijing Games, edging out Argentina to cap a perfect record in the final qualifying round.

The Italians squeezed through, winning 25-19, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 15-5 to finish atop the eight-team round robin competition with seven wins and no defeats.

On Saturday, Japan also secured a berth in the Olympics when they defeated Argentina to take top place among the Asian teams.

Italy and Japan will join host China, World Cup medallists Brazil, Russia and Bulgaria, and continental representatives the United States, Venezuela, Egypt and Serbia at the Olympics.

It will be Italy’s ninth straight appearance at the Games since 1976. They won the silver medal in 1996 and 2004, and the bronze medal in 1984 and 2000.

Italy’s coach, Andrea Anastasi, was relieved after the 102-minute match against Argentina, but he will take nothing for granted in Beijing.

“This is the last ticket to the Olympics. We came here to win it and we fought until the very last day. I’m really satisfied that we achieved our goal,” Anastasi said.

“However, it’s a bit complicated to win a medal in the Olympics. We started from a very low level. We have so many things to improve on ... physical strength, game plan and communication between players,” he said.

Alessandro Fei, the team’s top scorer with 23 points, also expected tough competition in Beijing.

“We must further improve our basic skills, especially because we’ve been losing recently to Brazil,” Fei said.

Earlier in the day, Iran upset Asian champions Australia 25-18, 25-16, 25-23, and South Korea defeated Thailand 25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 25-21, giving them some slim hope in case Argentina pulled off an upset.

Japan later breezed past Algeria 25-20, 25-13, 25-18 to complete the seven-day competition. Japan finished second with a 6-1 win-loss record.

South Korea was third and Argentina fourth. They both had a 4-3 record but were split by a points ratio.

Australia came in fifth at 3-4. Iran and Algeria were sixth and seventh respectively at 2-5, while Thailand lost all seven matches.—AFP