The national women’s handball team won their regional Olympic qualifier against Japan Tuesday, grabbing a ticket to the Beijing Games.

The women’s team won the rematch held in Tokyo by a score of 34 to 21.

The team has qualified seven times in a row since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

South Korea and Japan were the only teams to take part in the replay of the Asian qualifiers, as countries in the Middle East and Kazakhstan sat out in protest.

The rematches were held after Seoul and Tokyo filed claims that the original qualifiers had been officiated by biased referees from the Middle East.

The International Handball Federation (IHF) ordered a rematch in December but other countries dismissed the order except South Korea and Japan.

In the original qualifiers, the South Korean men’s team had lost to Kuwait, while the women's team had lost to Kazakhstan.

The men’s team will play against Japan Wednesday for the final ticket to Beijing.