‘Hangzhou tragedy’ overshadows pro volleyball media day…”We’ll put our faith in the fans”

The mood was somber at this weekend’s opening media day for men’s professional volleyball. The opening media day of the men’s professional volleyball season is usually filled with laughter and jokes, but this year the atmosphere was different. This was due to the poor performance of the Hangzhou Asian Games, which concluded on August 8.

At the V-League Men’s Media Day held at the Cheongdam Rivera Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Nov. 11, the managers of the seven men’s volleyball clubs and the players representing each team bowed their heads in apology and vowed to keep the faith of their fans.

The men’s volleyball team, led by Lim Do-heon, finished seventh at the Hangzhou Asian Games, its first medal defeat in 61 years. Women’s volleyball also failed to win a medal, and Korean men’s and women’s volleyball failed to reach the quarterfinals together for the first time ever.

The men’s team, in particular, packed their bags early with sub-par performances, losing back-to-back games to underdogs India and Pakistan before the Asian Games even began. On the 8th, the Korean Volleyball Association terminated the contracts of men’s coach Lim Do-heon and women’s coach Cesar Gonzalez, citing poor performance, and started to organize a new edition.

This led to sharp questions at the media day about why the V-League and what it can show.

Han (Korean Air), who led the men’s volleyball team at the Hangzhou Asian Games, said, “The players were disappointed that we didn’t perform as well as we thought, but I think the fans were more disappointed. I think the players should do their best and give the fans faith.”

Han Seung-bin of KB Insurance commented, “I think it’s important to show our performance so that the fans who were disappointed through international matches can have hope through the V-League.”

Heo Soo-bong (Hyundai Capital), who was expected to be the main gun of the national team but did not perform, also said, “I’m sorry for not performing well in recent international tournaments. I felt and experienced a lot,” he said, adding, “I will try to show more interesting games in the coming season 스포츠토토.”

This season, the V-League introduced the Asian quota system, which means that players from six Asian countries, including Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia, and Thailand, will join the roster.

Seo Jae-duk (KEPCO) said, “We need to reflect and make up for it. We have a Japanese player (libero Ryohei Iga) in our team (due to the Asian quota), so we will try to learn Japanese volleyball.”

Han announces her entry (Photo: Yonhap)