Korean men's volleyball team loses opening Asiad game to India

Volleyball

Published: 20 Sep. 2023, 22:59 Updated: 22 Sep. 2023, 10:27

Korean men's volleyball team loses opening Asiad game to India

Korea's Heo Su-bong, right, attacks during a Hangzhou Asian Games volleyball game against India at Linping Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Wedensday. [YONHAP]

The Korean men’s volleyball team lost 3-2 to India Wednesday in their first game of the Hangzhou Asian Games, securing just one point after a grueling 143 minutes.

The game at Linping Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China started with Korea showing a solid performance in the beginning, scoring three points in a row.

Korea looks to return to the top as volleyball begins Wednesday

Setter Han Sun-soo set a number of chances during the first set, allowing Na Gyeong-bok and Jeon Kwang-in to score through various patterns.

Korea ceded the lead at 16-16 and took the first set to a tied score at 24-24, but managed two consecutive points to win the set 27-25.

Korea, however, failed to ride that momentum, making errors in defense and allowing India to win the second set 29-27 and third set 25-22.

They then bounced back and took the fourth set 25-20 and it all came down to the fifth set.

Both sides went all out to claim the victory. The score tied again at 14-14 and it was India that won the set 17-15 for a final score of 3-2.

The result was disappointing for Korea, ranked much higher than India on the FIVB ranking — Korea ranked at No. 27 and India at No. 73.

The ranking difference was not evident on the court, raising serious concerns for Korea, who are looking to win their first Asiad gold medal since 2006.

Korea has medaled at every Asian Games since 1966, winning 14 Asiad medals — three golds, seven silvers and four bronzes. The team won silver at the 2018 Asiad and their last gold medal came from the 2006 tournament.

A total of 19 countries, divided into six groups, compete in this year’s Asiad.

Korea is in Pool C of the tournament with India and Cambodia and the teams play each other with a round-robin format. The top two teams from the six groups will advance to the knockout round.

India, who had secured a 3-0 win against Cambodia a day before, booked a spot in the knockout stage after Wednesday’s win.

Korea will next face Cambodia in the preliminary round Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at the same venue.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]