The South Korean women's national volleyball team, led by head coach Cha Sang-hyun, held its first official training session today (the 14th) at the Okazaki Chuo Park General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Having arrived in Japan the previous day, the national team unpacked their bags at a hotel near Nagoya Station instead of staying at a cramped container athletes' village that had drawn continuous complaints from players.

The South Korean women's volleyball team previously lost to Thailand 0-3 in the quarterfinals of the Asian Women's Volleyball Championship held last month.

Having self-analyzed that an over-reliance on wing attackers was a shortcoming in that tournament, the national team's top priority for the Asian Games is to diversify its attacking routes.

After finishing the training session, head coach Cha Sang-hyun explained, "The essential condition for playing a fast-paced game is precision in reception and defense. We prepared for that aspect through training. I told Kim Dain to run set plays as much as possible and disrupt the opponents' blocking positions if she can."

Team captain Kang So-hui (Korea Expressway Corporation) expressed her determination, saying, "After the Asian Championship ended, there were criticisms that our play was one-dimensional, so the players talked a lot among ourselves. We practiced plays linked with the middle blockers and we are confident. We will show it directly in the match."

(Photo: Yonhap News)