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Team Korea loses all-star game series, exposes shaky foundations

Published: 21 Apr. 2025, 15:34 Updated: 24 Apr. 2025, 14:39

PAIK JI-HWAN
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Team Korea reacts during an All-Star volleyball game against Team Thailand at Hwaseong Gymnasium in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, on April 20. [YONHAP]

Team Korea ending the two all-star women’s volleyball game series against Team Thailand with two 3-1 losses on Sunday exposed yet another alarming sign that women’s national team regular picks lack competitiveness on the international stage.

The two-game series that took place from Saturday to Sunday at Hwaseong Gymnasium in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, pitted the all-star Korean team, consisting of national team regular picks such as Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass outside hitter Kang So-hwi, Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate middle blocker Lee Da-hyeon and Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers outside hitter Park Jeong-ah against the Thai squad, which included Hi-Pass outside hitter Thanacha Sooksod.

Team Korea failed to dominate in Sunday’s contest, losing the first set 25-20 and second set 25-23. The squad grabbed the third set 25-17 but lost the fourth set 31-29 for their second 3-1 loss of the series.

The two-game series were exhibition games, but the team’s performances suggest that some players who received call-ups to the national squad, including Kang and Lee, ahead of the June start of the 2025 Volleyball Nations League (VNL), are not competing at a high enough level on the international stage.

Team Korea celebrates during an All-Star volleyball game against Team Thailand at Hwaseong Gymnasium in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, on April 20. [YONHAP]

This year's VNL run tasks Korea with turning around from its disappointing past three years.

Since Korean volleyball star Kim Yeon-kyoung retired from national duty after leading the team to the 2020 Olympic semifinals, the country has been on a steep downhill in every international competition, including the VNL.

Korea lost all 12 games in the 2022 VNL, and repeated the same feat in 2023, before finally cutting their 30-game losing streak in May 2024 and seeing some redemption in the 2024 edition with two wins from their 12 games in the tournament.

The team faced more unimpressive results elsewhere, with the squad missing a medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, which marked their first medalless run at the Asiad in 17 years, and failing to qualify for the Olympics last year for the first time in 20 years.

Korea’s FIVB world ranking has plummeted along with poor results on the international stage, going down from 14th in 2021 to 35th as of Monday.

The Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO) has implemented some initiatives to cultivate more talent and elevate Korean volleyball’s global competitiveness in recent years after witnessing embarrassing results from the national team.

The KOVO decided in March to allow nonregular V League picks to compete in a business team tournament later this year and to run a male and female club of third and fourth graders in 2026 to hone young players' skills, enabling them to join elite middle and high school teams and develop more talent long-term.

The V League, however, still lacks a reserve team system or a second-tier league where nonregular picks can compete.

Correction April 24: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that the women's team failing to medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 was their first time doing so in 61 years, but it was their first in 17 years.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]