The final of the All Japan Championship, which determines the best volleyball player in Japan, was held on the 17th, and in the men's competition, Panasonic defeated Wolfdogs Nagoya to win the title for the fifth time in five tournaments, led by Yuji Nishida of the Japan national team.
The final of the All Japan Championships was held at the Tokyo Gymnasium in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, and the men's competition was between Panasonic and Nagoya, which had five members of the Japan national team who participated in the Paris Olympics qualifiers, including Nishida.
Panasonic lost the first set 5-1 and struggled in the second set, losing a set point 25-27.
However, Nishida scored back-to-back spikes to tie the game, and when the score was 2-22, Nishida scored back-to-back spikes to take the set 24-28.
After taking the third set 29-31, Nishida rallied from match point in the fourth to pull up to one point, but Nishida feinted to drop him in front of his opponent to take a 29-3 lead.
With a team-high 25 points and Nishida's energetic Nishida, Panasonic won the set count 15-4 to win the title for the fifth time in five years since the tournament was introduced in its current format in 1.
Nishida said, "There were times when I was too eager to win and I was running around in circles, but I calmed down and my performance gradually returned.