Japan karate-chopped its way into second place after the technical routine of the synchronized swimming team event Thursday to put itself in position to challenge favored Russia for the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.
Japan earned 59.000 points for technical merit and another 39.600 for artistic impression for a 98.600 total to trail Russia by 0.200 point heading into Friday's free routine which will count for 65 percent of the final tally.
Russia led the technical routine with 98.800 points at Sydney International Aquatic Center while once powerful Canada was a distant third with 96.533. France and the United States trailed with 96.467 and 95.800, respectively.
To a rock soundtrack, the eight-member Japanese team performed the routine of karate kicks, chops and shrieks similar to the one that earned them second place in the Olympic qualification tournament in Sydney earlier this year.
Unfortunately, Japan's only perfect score of 10 -- awarded by the Japanese judge -- also got chopped under competition rules to disregard the top and bottom scores.
Canada was third with 96.533, France fourth with 96.467 and the U.S. fifth with 95.800 for their performance to music on a train theme. They take 33.787, 33.763 and 33.530 respectively through to the final.