South Korea women's volleyball loses to Kazakhstan to finish sixth in Asia Championships

Korea Women's Volleyball Team at the Asian Championships

The South Korean women's volleyball team finished in sixth place, the lowest finish in the history of the Asian Championships, after being swept by Kazakhstan.

Led by head coach Cesar Hernández González, the Korean team (ranked 29th in the world) lost to Kazakhstan (ranked 39th) with a set score of 0-3 (24-26 23-25 23-25) in the fifth place match of the 2023 Asian Volleyball Championship at MCC Hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, on Saturday.

At the tournament, Korea struggled to finish second in Group C after being swept by Vietnam (40th) in the preliminary round and fell to Thailand (14th) in the quarterfinals.

They beat India to advance to the fifth place match, but lost the final game to finish in sixth place.

South Korea has reached the quarterfinals 20 times since its first appearance at the Asian Championships in 1975. While they've never won the title, they've kept their pride alive with seven runner-up finishes, 10 third-place finishes, and three fourth-place finishes.

This time, however, they only managed to finish sixth, a harsh reminder that even the Asian quarters are not a sure thing.

The Korean women's team will return home on July 7 to rest and recuperate before traveling to Poland for the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification (July 16-24).

In Group C, Korea will face the United States (2nd), Italy (6th), Poland (7th), Germany (13th), Thailand, Colombia (20th), and Slovenia (25th). A top-two finish in Group C will qualify them for Paris, but realistically, they can't count on even one win.

After the women's team finishes qualifying for Paris, they will travel to China to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Host Thailand defeated China 3-2 (25-20 25-27 25-19 20-25 16-14) in straight sets in the final to return to the top spot after a 10-year absence in 2013. sportstotomen.com