Korea look for redemption at Asian Volleyball Championship

The Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship starts Wednesday in Thailand as Korea look to redeem themselves after recording 12 straight losses in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) last month.

The Korean women's volleyball team celebrates during a Volleyball Nations League game against Bulgaria at West Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on June 27. [NEWS1]

The Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship starts Wednesday in Thailand as Korea look to redeem themselves after recording 12 straight losses in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) last month.

First founded in 1975, 14 countries compete in the Asian Championship, with tournaments now held every two years.

This year’s competition marks the return of the tournament for the first time in four years, as the 2021 event did not take place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Korea will face Chinese Taipei, Vietnam and Uzbekistan in Group C of the tournament.

The competition will be a chance for Korea to show improvements from the VNL, where Korea recorded 12 straight losses.

Head coach Cesar Hernandez made a few changes to the squad from the VNL, most notably in attack.

Opposite hitter Lee Seon-woo of Daejeon KGC, outsider hitters Kwon Min-ji of GS Caltex Seoul KIXX and Lee Han-bi of the Gwangju AI Peppers are the new faces, alongside outsider hitters Kang So-hwi of the KIXX, Park Jeong-ah of the Peppers and Pyo Seung-ju of the Hwaseong IBK Altos.

Korea was clearly lacking in attack compared to other teams at the VNL, as their top three scorers — Kang, Jeong Ji-yun and Kim Da-eun — only managed 240 points, well below the solo effort by Stysiak Magdalena of Poland with 298.

Kim Da-eu and Jeong are not on the roster this time due to injury.

Libero Kim Yeon-gyeon of Hillstate is another new name, playing alongside the only other libero, Moon Jung-won of Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass.

Over in the setter position, Kim Da-in of Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate and Kim Ji-won of the KIXX are in Hernandez’s squad again.

No new middle blockers joined the team, with Lee Ju-ah of the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders, Park Eun-jin and Jung Ho-young of KGC and Lee Da-hyeon of Hillstate on the roster.

Korea need to bounce back in the Asian Championship in order to lift their FIVB ranking that plummeted from 14th to 35th.

The ranking drop came after Korea only secured one win in 29 games following the end of the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021. A 3-1 victory against Croatia at the Volleyball Women’s World Championship in October 2022 was Korea’s sole victory.

The Asian Championship may be an opportunity for Korea to secure their first win since last year, as the three opponents — No. 48 Vietnam, No. 51 Chinese Taipei and No. 69 Uzbekistan — in the group stage are relatively low-ranked countries compared to the likes of No. 3 United States and No. 5 Brazil whom Korea faced in the VNL.

The group stage with will take place with a round-robin format, with the group winners and runners-up advancing to the quarterfinals.

Hernandez said during a media day event at Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong on Aug. 17 that reaching the semifinals is the team’s objective.

Korea has never won the tournament, although they have finished as runners-up seven times and finished the 2019 event in third place.

China and Japan, on the other hand, have won the event 13 times and five times respectively. Both join the Asian Championship in good form, with China having finished the VNL as runner-up and Japan reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Japan are the current defending champions of the Asian Championship.

Korea jetted off to Thailand on Monday and will first face Vietnam on Wednesday, before playing Chinese Taipei on Thursday and Uzbekistan on Friday.

The team will then go straight back to training after the tournament, as they have to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers and Hangzhou Asian Games, both scheduled in September.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]