▲ Women's National Volleyball Team
The women's national volleyball team, led by head coach Cha Sang-hyun (world ranking 27th), is set to compete in the 2026 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship, which offers a berth for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
South Korea will face Vietnam (32nd) in their opening match of Group C in the tournament's preliminary round on the 22nd at the Tianjin Olympic Center Gymnasium in China.
The tournament features 12 teams divided into three groups of four for the preliminary round.
The top two teams from each group, along with the two third-place teams with the best records, will advance to the quarterfinals.
South Korea will play title contender Japan (6th) at 7:30 p.m. on the 23rd, the day after the Vietnam match, and finish the group stage against Hong Kong (115th) at 11:00 a.m. on the 26th.
The national team has long reigned as a powerhouse in the Asian Championship.
While they have never won the title, they have consistently finished between second and fourth place.
Since first participating in the Asian Championship in 1975, they have successfully reached the semifinals for 20 consecutive editions, excluding the 2021 tournament, which they did not attend.
However, at the previous tournament in 2023, they dropped to a worst-ever sixth place.
The slump in the Asian Championship also impacted the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games that followed shortly after.
At the time, South Korea struggled to a fifth-place finish, failing to win a medal for the first time in 17 years since the 2006 Doha Games and marking only the second time without a medal in Asian Games history.
Both tournament disasters began with matches against Vietnam.
The national team lost 3-2 to Vietnam in a full-set thriller during their opening group match at the 2023 Asian Championship.
Suffering an unexpected defeat to Vietnam, a team previously considered a notch below, South Korea fell into deep shock and continued to struggle afterward.
Ultimately, they failed to advance to the semifinals from the quarterfinal round.
Vietnam was also South Korea's first opponent at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
In that opening group match, South Korea won the first two sets but surrendered the third through fifth sets in a row, suffering a comeback defeat.
Stunned once again, South Korea repeated their struggles and finished the tournament in fifth place.
Having been tripped up by Southeast Asian teams like Vietnam in consecutive Asian Championships and Asian Games, South Korea began to slip from the top tier of Asian volleyball.
Vietnam is their first opponent once again.
This match is a chance to exact revenge against Vietnam, which dealt them painful blows three years ago, while securing a vital win to reach the quarterfinals.
Considering the balance of power, it will not be easy for South Korea to defeat group rival Japan.
For the national team, a realistic goal is to beat Vietnam and advance to the quarterfinals as the group's second-place team.
The winners of this tournament will be awarded a ticket to the 2028 LA Olympics.
The top three teams will earn qualification for the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship.
As global powerhouses Japan and China (7th) are fielding their strongest squads, reaching the final is realistically difficult.
South Korea is expected to engage in a fierce battle for third place against teams such as Thailand (17th), Vietnam, Taiwan (37th), and Kazakhstan (39th).
Ahead of this tournament, South Korea won the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup in June, but finished third at the recent 2026 East Asian Women's Volleyball Championship after losing in the semifinals to a young Japanese squad.
The national team will field the exact same players who competed in the East Asian Women's Volleyball Championship.
The roster includes setters Kim Dain (Hyundai Engineering & Construction) and Lee Suyeon (Korea Expressway Corporation), liberos Yu Garam (GS칼텍스 / GS Caltex) and Han Dahye (SOOP), outside hitters Kang So-hwi (Korea Expressway Corporation), Kim Hyohyim (GS Caltex), Yook Seo-young (IBK Industrial Bank), and Lee Ye-rim (Hyundai Engineering & Construction), opposite spikers Na Hyun-soo (Hyundai Engineering & Construction) and Park Eun-seo (SOOP), middle blockers Park Eun-jin (Red Sparks), Lee Dahyeon (NEC Red Rockets), and Lee Joo-ah (IBK Industrial Bank), and Jung Yun-joo (Heungkuk Life Insurance).
It is true that the national team lacks the heavyweight presence of past years.
Though the situation is difficult, there is no place to back down.
Attention is focused on whether the South Korean women's volleyball team can break free from the nightmare of three years ago and leap back to the top tier of Asian volleyball.
(Photo provided by the Asian Volleyball Confederation, Yonhap News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.