The men’s national volleyball team, led by head coach Lim Do-heon, will look to restore its honor at the Asian Championships.메이저놀이터
The team will depart for Urmia, Iran, the host of the 2023 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championships, via Incheon International Airport on Saturday. The tournament will be held from Nov. 19 to 26.
A total of 14 players have been named to the roster. Hwang Seung-bin (KB Insurance) and Hwang Taek-ui (Armed Forces Athletic Organization) will lead the setters, while Park Kyung-min (Hyundai Capital) and Lee Sang-wook (Samsung Fire) will be responsible for the libero positions. The middle blockers are Kim Kyu-min (Korean Air), Lee Sang-hyun (Woori Card), and Kim Min-jae (Korean Air).
Outside hitter will be played by Na Kyung-bok (Ministry of Defense), Jeong Ji-seok (Korean Air), Jeong Jung-yong (Korean Air), Lim Sung-jin (KEPCO), and Jeon Kwang-in (Hyundai Capital). Apogee spikers will be played by Heo Soo-bong (Hyundai Capital) and Lim Dong-hyuk (Korean Air).
In the group stage of the tournament, the top two teams will advance to the round of 12 playoffs. In Group F, Korea will face Bangladesh (Aug. 19) and Pakistan (Aug. 21).
The national team fell short on the threshold of the 2023 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Challenger Cup final last month. They were swept by world No. 77 Bahrain in the quarterfinals, ending their dream of qualifying for the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) for the first time in six years.
The national team has recently undergone a generational change, dropping top setter Han Se-u (Korean Air) and veteran middle blocker Shin Young-seok (KEPCO). However, the AVC Challenger Cup proved to be the perfect opportunity to make up for the lack of experience.
This time, they didn’t call up Han or Shin Young-seok, but they did bring in a number of experienced players. Instead of Kim Myung-kwan, Park Jun-hyuk, Oh Jae-sung, Cho Jae-young, and Hwang Kyung-min, the younger players were replaced by Hwang Seung-bin, Na Kyung-bok, Lee Sang-wook, Kim Kyu-min, and Jeon Kwang-in.
The team gathered at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village in Chungcheongbuk-do from the middle of last month and began training in earnest for about four weeks. After completing all the preparations, they will head to Urmia, Iran for the final match of the day.