Japan’s women’s volleyball team has qualified for the Paris Olympics, the Japan Volleyball Association (JVA) said Friday, despite a close defeat to Canada the previous night in a Volleyball Nations League match.
The JVA received the news from FIVA, the sport’s governing body, after it calculated the rankings points as of Thursday. The possible points other teams can gain from the remaining games of the Volleyball Nations League, part of which is being held in Fukuoka Prefecture, is not enough to unseat Japan from a qualifying position for Paris.
Twelve countries will qualify for the Paris Games, of which seven had already been decided. Japan had been vying for one of the remaining five spots, which will be determined based on the world rankings as of Monday, when the preliminary round for the Nations League wraps up.