JAKARTA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- After a narrow victory 9-8 over China, defending champion Kazakhstan secured a spot against Japan in the men's water polo final at the Asian Games here on Friday.

Kazakhstan won the quarterfinal 9-8 (3-1, 1-3, 4-2, 1-2) against China while Japan crushed Iran 18-7.

"It is a hard battle that we did our best until the last moment. However, we lost to the experienced Kazakhstan players by one goal. I hope my players can play more matches with strong teams and gain experiences from that," said Petar Porobic, coach of China team.

In the matches of 5-8th, Singapore edged Saudi Arabia 6-5 and South Korea romped the hosts Indonesia 15-7.

On September 1, Saudi Arabia will play Indonesia in the 7-8th match, Singapore fight with South Korea in the 5-6th battle. China face Iran in the bronze-medal match.

A total of nine teams are competing in the men's water polo at the 2018 Asian Games. Kazakhstan has won five of the last six titles, including the two most recent editions in 2010 and 2014.??