Japan's synchronized swimming team battled its way to the silver medal Saturday to give the host nation its third medal of the World Swimming Championships.
In a repeat of last year's team final at the Sydney Olympics, Japan finished just behind Russia while Canada occupied third place to take the bronze at Marine Messe Fukuoka. Russia retained its world title with 98.917 points, 0.834 over Japan. Canada finished with 97.453 points.
Japan, led by Juri Tatsumi, earned four 9.9s for the technical side of its "samurai" routine, which depicts a warrior confidently heading into a battle, plus a perfect 10 for artistic impression from Brazilian judge Ana Maria Lobo. Despite fielding a younger, less experienced team with an average age of 20 -- three years younger than the silver medal-winning team at the Sydney Olympics -- the Japanese put in a stellar display.
"Our performance was far from perfect, but we all did our best," said Yoko Yoneda, who along with Tatsumi are the only surviving members of the squad from Sydney.
The team silver came 24 hours after Olympic silver-medalists Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda won the gold medal in the duet final.
Anastassia Ermakova, a key member of Russia's new-look lineup, said she was "lost for words" after a total of four 10s clinched the gold.