Linyi, MINA – Japan’s star opposite number, Yuji Nishida, set two important records in the 2026 Men’s VNL as his team battled hard to secure a four-set victory over Slovenia in Linyi on Sunday.
Competing in Linyi, China, Japan ended the week undefeated in four matches, handing their European opponents their first loss of the season.
According to Volleyball World, when Nishida surpassed 1,000 points and 100 aces in the VNL, Japan leapfrogged Slovenia to fifth place in the FIVB World Rankings.
To reach the 1,000-point VNL milestone, Nishida needed only six points in Sunday’s match against Slovenia. He far surpassed that, contributing 17 points to his team’s 3-1 victory (25-27, 25-16, 25-22, and 25-22).
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With a total of 1,011 points so far, Yuji ranks third on the VNL all-time points list, behind teammate Yuki Ishikawa with 1,073 points and Nimir Abdel-Aziz of the Netherlands with 1,012 points.
Before the match, he needed just one more ace to reach 100 all-time points. Now with 102 points, he is just 29 aces short of leader Nimir, who has 131 aces and is second on the list.
“It was a tough match because we lost the first set, but in the second, third, and fourth sets we came back and we’re very happy,” Ishikawa told VBTV after the match.
With this win, Japan moved to the top of the VNL standings with 11 points, the only team with four wins before Sunday’s remaining matches. Slovenia suffered their first loss, but they remain among the top four teams in the standings, with a 3-1 win-loss record and 6 points.
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A total of 7.75 World Ranking points were transferred from Slovenia to Japan, allowing the Asian team to overtake their European opponents to fifth in the world, while Slovenia dropped to seventh. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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