▲ The South Korean national women's volleyball team high-fives after scoring a point during their Group D opening match against Hong Kong at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at Park Arena Komaki in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
The South Korean women's volleyball team (ranked 28th globally) secured a sweeping victory in its opening match against Hong Kong at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games today (the 16th).
The national team defeated Hong Kong (ranked 127th) with a set score of 3-0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-12) in the Group D match of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games women's volleyball tournament at Park Arena Komaki in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
South Korea faced some early struggles in the first set.
Capitalizing on the opponent's unstable receives early in the set, South Korea built a 5 to 6-point lead, but consecutive errors starting from 17-12 led to four straight conceded points, allowing Hong Kong to close the gap to just one point.
However, South Korea widened the gap again through Na Hyun-su's (Hyundai Engineering & Construction) tip attack, Lee Da-hyun's (NEC Red Rockets) quick slide attack, and Kang So-hwi's powerful spikes.
Leading 24-19, South Korea struggled against Hong Kong's strong serves and conceded four consecutive points, narrowing the score to 24-23, but Lee Ye-rim (Hyundai Engineering & Construction) calmly successfully attacked to close out the first set.
The national team took control of the match starting from the second set.
▲ Kang So-hwi
In particular, Kang So-hwi overwhelmed Hong Kong with dominant and powerful attacks.
South Korea reeled off six consecutive points from an 11-8 score, with Kang responsible for three of them.
Propelled by Kang, South Korea extended its lead to over ten points and wrapped up the second set 25-12.
Kang scored 8 points in the second set alone.
The national team closed out the match in the third set.
Leading 11-7, Kang So-hwi, Yuk Seo-young, and others completely broke down the opponent's defensive line with six straight points to decide the match.
Having commenced their campaign with a victory, South Korea will play its second match against Qatar (ranked 106th) tomorrow (the 17th) before facing Vietnam (ranked 32nd), their toughest rival in the group stage, the day after tomorrow (the 18th).
South Korea must defeat Vietnam to advance to the quarterfinals as the top team in the group.
Finishing second in the group would likely result in a matchup against China (ranked 7th), the strong favorite to top Group B.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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