The national men’s handball team will join the women in the Beijing Summer Olympics this year.

Korea defeated Japan Wednesday in Tokyo in a highly disputed replay of an Olympic qualifier, 28-25, thanks to a heady attack and the sterling play of goalkeeper Kang Il-gu.

The men have qualified for their third straight Olympics, joining the women who also beat Japan the day before in their own replay.

In their qualifiers last year, Korea and Japan accused the referees of bias toward Kuwait and Kazakhstan, who advanced to the Olympics after winning all of their games.

The Asian federation said the games in question were officiated fairly and refused to sanction the two replays. It said it will expel Korea and Japan for holding them.

The men's replay qualifier was a tight-knit affair throughout, but Korea’s Baek Won-cheol scored to give his country a comfortable cushion of 28-24 with just 55 seconds left.