Korean newspaper shocked as volleyball team lost to Vietnam, Thailand at Asian tournament

The Korean women's volleyball team just suffered a big shock when for the first time in history they failed to advance to the semi-finals of the Asian Championship.

According to Hankook Ilbo , the South Korean women's volleyball team, which reached the Olympic semi-finals two years ago, was extremely disappointed when it failed to reach the semi-finals of the 2023 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

The Korean women's volleyball team (in white) failed to reach the semi-finals of the Asian tournament for the first time.

AVC

The Korean women's volleyball team, led by coach Cesar Hernandez Gonzalez, lost to Thailand 0-3 (23-25, 22-25, 23-25) in Group E in the quarterfinals. Previously, in the second match of Group E, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team defeated Korea 3-2 and won against Australia 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-21). With 2 losses, Korea and Australia will have to compete for 5th to 8th place, while Thailand and Vietnam advance to the semi-finals with 2 wins.

The failure of the Korean women's team to reach the semi-finals of this tournament is considered a big shock for the country's sports . According to local media, since Korea first participated in the Asian Women's Volleyball Championship in 1975, the country has never won the championship but has reached the semi-finals 20 times in a row. The team has finished second 7 times, third 10 times and fourth 5 times. However, the women's volleyball team this time did not even make it into the top 4 in Asia with their worst performance ever when they were defeated by Vietnam and Thailand.

Vietnam women's volleyball team faces historic opportunity

NGOC DUONG

"The shock of Korean women's volleyball was more or less expected. The anxiety continued to occur in this tournament when the team always played unfocused, often making mistakes in attack... Women's volleyball was really thrown into a dark era when veteran stars like Kim Yeon-kyung and Yang Hyo-jin left the national team after reaching the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics. In this tournament, Korea continued to play poorly and suffered the pain of not being able to advance to the semi-finals. With such achievements, many assessments said that they would hardly even be able to win the right to compete for medals at this year's ASIAD in China," wrote the Hankook Ilbo .

Thanhnien.vn