Korea Women’s Volleyball opened its final qualification campaign for the Paris Olympics with a loss to Italy.

The South Korean women’s volleyball team, led by head coach Cesar Hernandez, fell to Italy (ranked 36th in the world) 0-3 in straight sets in the first match of Group C at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Final Qualification on Sunday (July 17) at the Atlas Arena in Łódź, Poland.

Korea had 10 points from Kang So-hwi, six from Park Jung-ah, and five each from Lee Ju-ah, Jung Ho-young, and Kwon Min-ji, but it was not enough to win the set. They were heavily outscored 30-52 in attack points, and had an absolute disadvantage of 3-10 in blocking. They were also out-served 0-2.

After the match, Coach Cesar said, “It’s disappointing that we didn’t capitalize on our strength, which is our serve. They are a good receiving team, but if we had a stronger serve, it would have been effective,” said Cesar. “I ordered the team to use more fastballs when we had good reception. It was good that Jung Ho-young’s fastball and Lee Ju-ah’s mobile fastball worked well.”

When asked what he hoped to take away from the tournament, Coach Cesar said, “We want to improve our overall level of play. In this tournament, we always play against strong teams. I think it will be a good opportunity for us.”

South Korea has selected Lee Sun-woo as the only player to play the position of aggressive spiker in the tournament. However, Lee has yet to arrive in Poland. He will join the team later in the afternoon on the 17th. The late departure was due to treatment for enteritis.

“He’s on his way to Poland after being treated in the hospital,” said coach Cesar. We will check his condition closely after he joins the team. We have to see how he feels and how fit he is. We’ll aim to get him on the field as soon as possible, but we’ll see how he is.” 굿모닝토토

South Korea will play their second match on Sunday against Poland on their home court. South Korea will play with 13 players, excluding Lee Sun-woo.