On the brink, will Lim Do-heon be able to smile at the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games 2022?
The South Korean men’s volleyball team, coached by Lim Do-heon, is set to play its first match of the Asian Games. The Koreans are in Pool C with India (Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. local time) and Cambodia (Sept. 21 at 2:30 p.m. local time). If they finish second in the group, they will advance to the round of 12. There will be a ranking match based on the results of the tournament.
The men’s volleyball schedule is earlier than other Asian Games. Host China adjusted its schedule to send its elite members to the Asian Games as well as the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifiers, which start on September 30. The Hangzhou Asian Games will open on the 23rd, but men’s volleyball will start on the 19th with the final on the 26th. Women’s volleyball will follow on the 28th.
South Korean men’s volleyball is in crisis. The team hasn”t performed well in recent international competitions. In the two international tournaments they participated in in 2023, they were disastrous.
They finished a shocking third in the 2023 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Challenger Cup, a tournament that was dominated by powerhouses like Japan. After winning the title, they dreamed of playing in the 2023 FIVB Challenger Cup, but it was not to be. They were defeated in the quarterfinals by Bahrain, a team that was considered to be one of the favorites. Bahrain is ranked 73rd by the FIVB. That’s a far cry from Korea’s 27th place. Nevertheless, Korea lost.
At the subsequent Asian Championships in Iran, the Koreans were not smiling. They finished fifth in a field that included Japan, Iran, Qatar, and China. They lost to China in the quarterfinals. It was the second consecutive time they failed to reach the quarterfinals, as they were looking to win the title for the first time in 20 years since 2003.
In the FIVB rankings, South Korea is followed by Japan (5th), Iran (11th) and Qatar (17th). Even without their top players for the Paris qualifiers, they are not a team to be taken lightly.
Coach Lim Do-heon called up “national treasure” setter Han (Korean Air) for the Asian Games. He played with Kim Myung-kwan (Hyundai Capital) at the AVC Challenger Cup and Hwang Seung-bin (KB Insurance) at the Asian Championships, but it didn’t bring the desired results. The team will be hoping for the experience of Han, who will be competing in only his fourth Asian Games, and the grit of Hwang Taek-ui (Armed Forces Athletic Corps).
Other V-League stars like Jeong Ji-seok (Korean Air), Jeon Kwang-in, Heo Soo-bong (Hyundai Capital), Lim Dong-hyuk (Korean Air) and Na Kyung-bok (Defense Ministry), as well as rookies like Kim Jun-woo (Samsung Fire), Kim Min-jae (Korean Air) and Park Kyung-min (Hyundai Capital), are sweating it out in Hangzhou on Saturday in hopes of recreating Korean volleyball glory.
The last time South Korea won gold at the Asian Games was in Doha 2006. It won back-to-back gold medals in Busan 2002. Since then, they have finished third in Guangzhou 2010, third in Incheon 2014 and second in Jakarta-Palembang 2018.카지노
The only time South Korea hasn’t finished in the top three since the sport’s inception in 1958 was in Jakarta in 1962 (5th). In other words, from Bangkok 1966 to Jakarta-Palembang 2018, Korea has finished on the podium in all 14 editions. They finished first three times, second eight times, third four times, and fifth once.
Korean men’s volleyball is in crisis. Can they pull themselves out of it?