Korea reaches final of 2010 Asian Games Women’s Volleyball Tournament
The women’s volleyball team of Korea held off Team Kazakhstan for 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, and 25-19) victory on Thursday, 25th November, 2010. The influential semi-final victory enabled World No. 19 Korea to reserve a berth in the final match of the
Women’s Volleyball Tournament at the 16th Asian Games, China.
First Set
Korea opened the match with strong serves by Young Dae Jung, which put Korea in the lead. Devastating spikes by Koung Yeon Kim added more fury to the game.
Kazakhstan’s players looked suspiciously at each others’ faces and seemed uneasy in their shoes. They threw their hands up in the air to block the speedy shots but the ball shot past their heads and legs.
Korea built a strong lead in the early phase of the game. Kazakhstan used Sana Jarlagassova and Inna Matveyeva to gain stability in the game but Korean blockers didn’t allow them stay on their feet.
Young and Kim of Korea did a great job of killing the Kazakhi spikes. They not only blocked the shot but actually re-bounded the ball and scored points. Korea dominated the other side and took control of operations in the game.
Kazakhstan’s team was disgusted with the unbalanced moves and suffered a setback. Korea successfully covered the length of the first set and declared a 25-15 victory.
Second Set
The second set of the game got some sort of symmetry. Kazakhstan tried hard but couldn’t recover from the shock of defeat. They constantly remained under pressure and demonstrated a shaky performance.
Kazakhstan relied on Natalya Zhukova, who supplied plenty of power to the ball and fought bravely. Despite a great struggle, Kazakhstan continued to trail. Korea denied their power and stayed ahead in the game. The 21-year old Yang Hyo Jin of Korea stormed
Kazakhstan’s half with ground shattering shots. Kazakh defenders failed to put up with heavy strikes of Korean spikers and accepted defeat at 17-25.
Third Set
Korea attained a very strong spot after winning the opening two sets of the game. They produced confident jump serves in the third set but Kazakhstan made a great comeback. The Kazakh captain, Inna Matveyeva placed players in unique receiving style and started
the struggle with new spirit.
Meanwhile, Korea created a chance for Kazakhstan with poor reception. Korea went down for bad ball-handling in the middle of the third set. However, Korea’s Kim rose up to bring steadiness in the game. They were back in the business and once again took the
game away from Kazakhstan. They clawed their way to victory by posting 25-19.
Korea is now scheduled to meet China on Saturday, 27th November. It will put Korean team’s abilities to a real test. The world has to wait and see which side captures the top honour.
Top scorers
Kim Yeon Koung of Korea topped the scoring chart by contributing 26 points to her team’s score. She earned 24 points in 39 attack attempts, while she bagged 2 points with the help of excellent blocking. Likewise, Jin Hyo Yang registered 12 points in Korea’s
score. On the other hand, Olga Dobryshevskaya of Kazakhstan helped her team with a maximum 10 points.
Coach’s insight
The head coach of Korea’s team, Park Sam Ryong, was more than happy with his team’s performance. He called it a stepping stone for Korea to make further progress in the final match against a tough Chinese team.
He commented that, “As I have said before, we have the confidence to win against China. We need to play them more cautiously this time. We know China very well as we are old rivals, so we feel no pressure”.
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