Japan led from start to finish in defeating No. 1-ranked Australia 57-53 in mixed wheelchair rugby on Friday at Yoyogi National Stadium to advance to the semifinals with an unbeaten record from three preliminary group matches.
Japan will face either the United States or Britain on Saturday for a place in Sunday's final.
"It's a relief as we achieved our goal of qualifying as the top team in the group," Shinichi Shimakawa said.
Taking a one-point lead into the second period, Yukinobu Ike scored a try off a turnover to extend the lead to two points. A number of players added to the tally as Japan added another point to the lead in both the third and fourth periods as it never trailed against the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic champion.
"We performed pretty well," Shimakawa said. "As you can see by the score, we led from start to finish, building up points one by one to get the win. Our strategy was to keep pressure on them and recover even if they got past us. It paid off as we played defense as if we had five or six players instead of only four. This is only the beginning."
Seiya Norimatsu credited the victory to a team effort.
"It was as tough as I expected, but I'm glad because we won by playing together as a team," Norimatsu said. "Not only their top scorer, but we also defended Australia's other players to hamper their movement. This is a victory grabbed by all of us. In tomorrow's semifinal, it will also be up to whether we can believe in our game and keep playing it. We have to stick to our rugby."
Ike said: "We were able to do what we worked on in training camp. We communicated well with each other. Over the next two days, I want us to be confident and fight so that we can say it was the best five days ever."
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