The South Korean men’s national volleyball team’s star attacker, Jeong Ji-seok, was forced to watch the Hangzhou tragedy from the sidelines. “It was very hard to not be able to play,” he said.
The South Korean men’s volleyball team, led by head coach Lim Do-heon, lost their men’s volleyball Group C match against India 2-3 (27-25 27-29 22-25 25-20 15-17) on Tuesday at the Linping Sports Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games 먹튀검증.
South Korea’s loss came as a literal shock. Against India, ranked 73rd in the FIVB rankings, the 27th-ranked Koreans were brought to their knees. There are no excuses, they were beaten by ‘skill’.
With an average team height of nearly 195 centimeters, excluding liberos, India used their height to their advantage. Na Kyung-bok exploded for a team-high 31 points and Heo Soo-bong and Jeon Kwang-in split 22 points apiece, but Korea hung its head after the first set.
Despite the loss to India, South Korea can still qualify for the round of 12 if they win their second Group C game against Cambodia at the same venue on Nov. 21. However, it is far from certain that they will be able to continue to compete for a medal with their current form.
The most crucial aspect of South Korea’s loss to India was the injury to Jung Jeong-seok. Jeong had been training normally for the past 18 days to improve his form, but his back condition worsened just before the match and he did not play a single minute in the first game.
The exact status of his injury and whether he will play against Cambodia is currently unknown, as head coach Lim Do-heon left the stadium after the game without giving an official interview. However, Jeong expressed his desire to play in the Cambodia match as Korea’s mood was greatly dampened by the loss to India.
Before boarding the bus back to the athletes’ village after the India game, Jeong said, “My back is not very good right now. But I was still waiting to play today (in the warm-up zone),” he said, adding, “As a player, you should always be ready to play. I’m not thinking about my injury, I’m thinking about team first. I can do it, so I’ll try my best.”
For his part, Jeong Jung-seok admits that his heart was hurting more than his body. It was hard for her to accept that she was stuck in the warm-up area, unable to do anything while the team was struggling.
“It was the first time in my volleyball career that I couldn’t play. I came all the way here because I wanted to help out a little bit, and I was very angry (with myself) because I couldn’t play,” she said. “I tried to lighten the mood by laughing and talking to my brothers and cheering them on with my voice. In the next game, I want to play somehow and help the team,” he emphasized.
“Coach Lim Do-heon told me to get ready to play today, so I was warming up,” he said, adding, “(Former) Gwang-in and (former) Kyung-bok were in good shape, so we’ll see what happens against Cambodia.”