Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, September 24, 2008 -- Japan outclassed hosts Thailand in a 65-minute three-set contest on Wednesday to join Korea, Iran and China to the semi-finals of the inaugural Asian Men’s Cup Volleyball Championship at The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall.

A fired-up Japan smashed Thai dreams of making it to the crucial round of final four teams by overwhelming the host side with their particular power-and-speed tactics to continue their remarkable unbeaten run in the one-week, eight-team top-flight tournament.

The scintillating 25-18 25-21 25-20 triumph over the home team carried Japan, world number 11 and silver medalists at the last year’s Asian Championship in Jakarta, to the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament.

Fiercely-attacking Wanchai Tabwises topscored 15 points for Thailand, while smashing machine Shibakoya Yasuyuki led the Japanese with 14 points.

In Thursday’s semi-finals, the formidable Japan, Asian champions in the 13th edition in Suphan Buri in 2005, are scheduled to take on Iran, the 25-11 25-16 25-19 winners over Chinese Taipei in the other quarter-final match.

“We made too many mistakes in this match. Our basic skills such as setting, passing shots and blocking are second to the Japanese. Against Chinese Taipei in the next round, I think we have the similar standard. Whether we can beat them depends on the match that day. I hope my players will do their best,” Thai head coach Monchai Supajirakul commented after the match.

“Actually, I set my initial goal of seeing my team make it to the semi-finals, which will be a new chapter of Thai volleyball, but we missed the target. Our next goal is to beat Chinese Taipei to battle it out with another team in the fifth-place play-off, “he added.

With a letdown in the knock-out quarter-finals on Wednesday, Thailand now challenge world number 40 Chinese Taipei in the classification 5th-8th round, while Indonesia lost a hard-fought battle to title hotshots Korea 15-25 27-29 23-25.

The SEA Games champions now take on Australia, which suffered a humiliating three-set 14-25 20-25 22-25 loss to China in a late match on Wednesday, in the classification round.

China on Wednesday fielded five players who competed in the recent Olympic Games and finished joint fifth place in Beijing including the 210cm-tall Bian Hongmin, ace spiker Cui Jianjun and brilliant setter Jiao Shuai.

Against Aussies, a mighty China played the superb form, with Cui spiking spectacularly at the net. The team also took the splendid offensive combination of scintillating blockings from Bian and Zhong Weijun and deadly spikes by Cui and Jiang Kun to capture the comfortable straight-set win over Australia, whose height average is 201cm against the Chinese’s 197cm.

In Thursday’s semi-finals, Japan, none of their players competed in the recent Beijing Olympic Games, go up against Iran.

The other semis see China play a rematch of the showdown of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar against the formidable Koreans, to whom they lost in a heart-pounding five-set thriller in the Group A round-robin preliminaries.