Kim Yeon-kyung on Women's Volleyball Team Barely Making Quarterfinals: "Feeling Unclear About Starting Lineup... Hope They Overcome Well" [Asian Games]

Encouragement and Advice After the Nepal Match

'Volleyball Empress' Kim Yeon-koung (Heungkuk Life) offered both encouragement and criticism to the national team, which barely secured a spot in the quarterfinals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

After the women's volleyball match against Nepal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held on the 2nd at the Gymnasium of Hangzhou Normal University Changqian Campus in China, Kim Yeon-koung met with the press and said, "The most important thing for the team right now is to lift the atmosphere," adding, "The team atmosphere was good before yesterday's match against Vietnam, but I saw something like they couldn't mentally overcome it. I hope they overcome it well."

She continued, "I feel that the starting six players on the team are not clearly defined," and said, "I think it would have been better to fix the lineup to some extent and focus on giving opportunities regardless of results and improving their condition."

Kim Yeon-koung, an attacker for Heungkuk Life Insurance, who is visiting Hangzhou, China as a commentator, is posing for the press after an interview following the women's volleyball match between Korea and Nepal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held at the Gymnasium of Hangzhou Normal University Changqian Campus on the 2nd.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Korea lost a comeback match after winning the first and second sets but losing the third, fourth, and fifth sets consecutively against Vietnam in the first group stage match of Group C the previous day. This reduced Korea's chances of advancing to the semifinals.

Kim Yeon-koung, who was a commentator for KBS during the Vietnam match the day before, left the stadium without making any additional comments after the game.

On this day, she made efforts to boost the morale of her juniors. Before the match, she came down to the stands, called out the names of her juniors one by one, waved her hand, and cheered, saying "Cheer up!"

Encouraged by Kim Yeon-koung's support, the national team succeeded in recovering the atmosphere by winning the match against Nepal with a set score of 3-0. The team was able to advance to the quarterfinals as the second place in the group following Vietnam.

Meeting with the press, Kim Yeon-koung encouraged her juniors and also asked volleyball fans for their support.

She said, "Please don't be too harsh on our players," and added, "I hope everyone thinks together about how to create a better environment for future generations while accepting the reality."

Regarding a question about Park Jeong-ah (Pepper Savings Bank), who showed a poor performance that day, she said, "Park Jeong-ah must be struggling both physically and mentally," and added, "(In the game itself) she didn't run much, so her coordination and performance with teammates didn't fully come up."

Park Jeong-ah was repeatedly making serve receive errors in the first set against Nepal and was substituted by Pyo Seung-joo (IBK Industrial Bank).