Women's Volleyball Led by Kim Yeon-kyung Aims for Turnaround Today Against Kenya

Kenya Ranked 24th in World Volleyball, Lowest in Group A

Korean women's volleyball team competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The women's volleyball team led by Kim Yeon-koung will challenge for their first victory against Kenya at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Kenya is considered the weakest among the six teams in Group A, which includes Korea. They must win to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

The team will play their second Group A preliminary match against Kenya at 9:45 PM on the 27th at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Their first preliminary match on the 25th against Brazil ended in a 0-3 set loss. In the Tokyo Olympics women's volleyball, six teams each in Groups A and B compete in a round-robin, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the quarterfinals. They need to win at least two matches. To avoid facing the strongest teams from Group B, such as the USA and China, in the quarterfinals, they realistically need three or more wins.

Kenya is an ideal opponent for Korea to stage a comeback. They are ranked 24th in the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) world women's volleyball rankings by country. This is the lowest ranking after Brazil (2nd), Japan (5th), the Dominican Republic (6th), Serbia (10th), and Korea (14th) in Group A. Kenya lost their first preliminary match against Japan on the 25th with a set score of 0-3 (15-25, 11-25, 23-25). Korea has faced Kenya six times recently and won all matches.

Ace of the Korean women's volleyball Olympic team, Kim Yeon-koung.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Ace Kim Yeon-koung is determined to win. Right after the loss to Brazil, she said, "Everyone knew Brazil and Serbia were the strongest teams in our group," and added, "I will definitely beat Kenya and also defeat at least one of the other teams to advance to the next round." This Olympics is Kim Yeon-koung's last stage, and her desire to secure a medal is stronger than ever.

However, complacency is forbidden. Kenya was in great form, having won all four matches in the African continental qualifiers just before the Olympics to earn their spot. The primary player to watch is 183 cm tall right-side hitter Sharon Chepchumba Kiprono. She scored 18 points in the match against Japan, playing a key role as the ace. She attempted 36 attacks and succeeded in 16, showing excellent form. Kenya's players have strong physicality and jumping ability, and they are expected to focus on exploiting Korea's heavy reliance on Kim Yeon-koung.

Kim Yeon-koung and the team are improving their match fitness as they play. In the match against the powerhouse Brazil, the first set ended with a wide score gap of 10-25, but the second set (22-25) and third set (19-25) were relatively close. Especially as time passed, Kim Yeon-koung showcased her signature 'no-look spike.' She scored only 2 points in the first set but fought hard in the remaining sets to record a total of 12 points. Left hitter Park Jeong-ah also performed well, scoring 9 points. After the match against Kenya, the team will face the Dominican Republic on the 29th, Japan on the 31st, and Serbia on the 2nd of next month in succession.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.