▲ The South Korean women's national volleyball team secured a 3-0 clean sweep in their third evaluation match against Indonesia (ranked 60th) held at the Jecheon Gymnasium in North Chungcheong Province on the 26th, finishing the three-match series undefeated.
The women's national volleyball team (ranked 30th globally), led by head coach Cha Sang-hyun, has been drawn into the same group as Japan (6th), Vietnam (28th), and Hong Kong (108th) for the group stage of the 2026 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship.
The national team was placed in Group C during the tournament draw held yesterday in Tianjin, China.
The tournament features 12 teams divided into three groups for the preliminary round. The top two teams from each group, along with the two best third-placed teams, will advance to the round of 8.
The champion will be awarded a direct ticket to the main draw of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, while the top three teams will secure qualification for the 2027 FIVB Women's World Cup (formerly the World Championship).
With Olympic and World Cup berths on the line, teams are expected to field their strongest possible squads for the competition.
Group A includes host nation China (7th), Taiwan (38th), Iran (42th), and Iraq (unranked), while Group B features Thailand (17th), Kazakhstan (39th), Indonesia (60th), and Australia (90th).
The tournament will take place in Tianjin, China, from the 21st to the 30th of next month.
Since first participating in the Asian Championship in 1975, South Korea had finished in the top four in 20 consecutive appearances—excluding the 2021 tournament which they did not attend—before failing to reach the semifinals for the first time by finishing sixth in the previous 2023 tournament.
Aiming to restore its pride, the national team is scheduled to participate in the 2026 East Asian Championship opening in Hong Kong on the 11th of next month as a final tune-up ahead of the Asian Championship.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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