Korea women’s volleyball faces Thailand and Australia for Asian Championship quarterfinals.
The South Korean women’s volleyball team will need to defeat Thailand and Australia to reach their target of a top-four finish at the 22nd edition of the Asian Games.
South Korea qualified for the quarterfinals of the 2023 Asian Games with a 2-1 record in Group C that concluded in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, on Monday, finishing second behind Vietnam, which won all three of its matches.
South Korea, which lost a hard-fought 2-3 decision to Vietnam, will play the Group E quarterfinal round against Group A winners Thailand and Australia on March 3-4.
Vietnam and Thailand, who beat Australia in Group A, will start with one win apiece, while Korea and Australia will play the other Group 1 and 2 teams with one loss apiece.
South Korea will need to defeat Thailand on March 3 and Australia on March 4 to advance to the quarterfinals, which will be decided by the first and second place finishers in Pool E with two wins and one loss.
After slipping to 35th in the FIVB world rankings, the Korean women’s team is not a sure thing.
They’ve already been swept by 44th-ranked Vietnam in the group stage and were swept by 51st-ranked Chinese Taipei in a five-set thriller after taking the first two sets.
South Korea, ranked behind China (world No. 6) and Japan (No. 8), has slipped to fourth in Asia, behind even the recently surging Thailand (No. 15).
South Korea has been rebuilding its team for more than two years after a national team generational change, but results have been mixed, and it is expected to struggle against Thailand, which is better organized on the third day.
Assuming the Thais beat Vietnam based on their current form, Korea will need to beat Australia (52nd) to finish second in Group E and advance to the quarterfinals.
Korea has finished in the top four 20 times since its first appearance at the Asian Championships in 1975, excluding the 2021 tournament, which it missed.
This year, however, they were swept by Vietnam in their first group match, threatening to end their streak of consecutive top-four finishes.
After failing to win a single point in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) for the second consecutive year and suffering a 12-match losing streak, Korea Women’s Head Coach Cesar Hernández González has vowed to change that at the Asian Championships and has set his sights on reaching the semifinals, but they will need to overcome the Thai barrier to continue their challenge.
In the other quarterfinal, Group F, where the first and second places in Group B and the first and second places in Group D are up for grabs, 카지노사이트넷 Japan and China look set to sneak past Kazakhstan and India.