Kazakhstan rallied from a 14-15 halftime deficit to beat Japan 28-22 to take a commanding lead in this round robin tournament. In other action South Korea easily defeated winless Qatar 45-17. The stage is now set for the Koreans to take on the host Kazakhs in a showdown match Wednesday night.

Assuming that these qualifiers are following the tie-breaker format used in most round robin tournaments today, South Korea will win the tournament with a 4 goal victory. A 3 goal or less victory will result in Kazakhstan tournament win. Japan because they are locked at -5 goal differential can not win the tournament, but they will certainly be rooting for Kazakhstan as it will give them 2nd place and entry into an Olympics Qualification tournament. Should South Korea lose the match and place 3rd they will need to finish 1st -7th at the upcoming World Championships to qualify for an Olympics Qualification tournament.

[b]Current Standings W T L Pts GF GA GD[/b]
Kazakhstan 2 0 0 4 72 36 +36
Japan 1 0 1 2 51 56 -5
South Korea 1 0 1 2 73 46 +27
Qatar 0 0 2 0 31 89 -58

[b]Korea – Japan – Kazakhstan (Head to Head Standing)[/b]
Kazakhstan 1 0 0 28 22 +6
Japan 1 0 1 2 51 56 -5
South Korea 0 0 1 0 28 29 -1