▲ The men's national volleyball team celebrates.
The South Korean men's national volleyball team (ranked 35th in the world) comfortably defeated the Philippines (ranked 113th) in their opening match of the group stage at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Led by head coach Isanaye Ramirez, the national team won 3-0 (25-16, 27-25, 25-22) against the Philippines in Group D of the tournament held today (September 27) at Park Arena Komaki in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Korea easily overpowered the Philippines in the first set with strong firepower.
Leading 11-9, Korea began to widen the gap by scoring three consecutive points capitalising on consecutive opponent errors and a block by Han Tae-jun (Woori Card).
Even at 15-11, they seized momentum by scoring consecutive points through an opponent service error and a back-row attack by Jung Han-yong (Korean Air Jumbos).
Lim Dong-hyuk (Korean Air Jumbos) and Jung Han-yong combined for 8 points in the first set.
They struggled somewhat in the second set.
After a tight battle, Korea conceded consecutive points from a 22-21 lead, allowing a turnaround.
The match went to deuce, and at 24-24, they faced the risk of losing the set after failing to block the opponent's attack.
However, at 24-25, a service error and consecutive attack errors by the Philippines allowed Korea to take a 2-0 lead in sets.
The national team closed out the match in the third set.
Having struggled against the opponent's fast center quick attacks, Korea turned the game around at 14-15 by scoring three straight points through consecutive attacks by Choi Jun-hyuk (Korean Air Jumbos) and Lim Sung-jin (Armed Forces Athletic Corps) along with an opponent attack error.
Following this, the national team maintained their momentum in every close situation by putting Lim Dong-hyuk at the forefront.
Lim Dong-hyuk calmly succeeded in his attacks at 17-17 and 19-18.
At 21-20, the national team widened the gap to 3 points with an opponent service error and a service ace by Lee Sang-hyun (Armed Forces Athletic Corps), sealing the victory.
Lim Sung-jin led the team with 13 points, while Lim Dong-hyuk and Jung Han-yong each contributed 11 points.
Korea will play Taiwan (ranked 55th) tomorrow and China (ranked 34th) on September 29, and will advance to the quarterfinals if they finish in the top two of their group.
The men's national volleyball team succeeded in winning medals in 14 consecutive tournaments from the 1966 Bangkok Games (silver medal) to the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games (bronze medal), but finished 7th at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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