Group B: Korea Republic 2-5 Japan

Morioka opened the scoring in the first half but Park Young-jae leveled soon after as Korea proved resilient opposition to go into the interval all square.

The Japanese frontman then scored twice in quick succession either side of Chun Jin-woo’s equaliser, before teeing up Manabu Takita for Japan’s fourth and then rounding off the scoring late on as Korea Republic were eliminated.

Having suffered a 13-2 defeat at the hands of Uzbekistan in their opening fixture, Korea Republic got off to a better start against their East Asian rivals at University of Taipei Gymnasium as they withstood the early pressure from one of the tournament favourites.

The Koreans then could have gone ahead eight minutes in but Chun was denied by goalkeeper Higor Pires as the tie remained firmly in the balance.

Kazuhiro Nibuya fired wide for Japan midway through the first half, before the three-time winners finally broke the deadlock a minute later when Morioka held off the Korea defence, turned and drilled past Seo Jung-woo.