Kang Sohwi, South Korea gain confidence from AVC crown

Kang Sohwi and South Korea in action during the AVC Women’s Cup. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Kang Sohwi and South Korea are determined to continue rebuilding their winning culture after losing their spot in the Volleyball Nations League.

Kang led the South Korean’s perfect title run in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Cup in Candon City over the weekend.

The Korean captain emerged as the tournament Most Valuable Player and Best Outside Hitter, dropping 14 points to sweep Chinese Taipei, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22, on Sunday night.

Kang said one of the team’s biggest motivations was losing its place in the VNL last year.

“While we were in the VNL, we were losing very many games. Our confidence were really low that I felt that the value and the value of the wins in the AVC every time we won, we tried our best to take the ranking points and I’m really happy that we were able to achieve this goal in this competition,” said Kang through an interpreter.

“There were very hard moments, but with all the national team members here, I’m really happy that we were able to have this very meaningful and valuable result today,” she added.

After a perfect campaign, the Koreans hope to continue earning ranking points and building chemistry ahead of the Asian Games in September.

“Every time we won in each game, our teammates had this fire in their eyes that we’re able to do it. And I was able to catch their expression showing confidence. I hope we’ll bring this good energy into the Asian Games; probably, we’ll have a good result then,” said Kang.

Kang also expressed her gratitude to the Filipino fans in Candon, who supported South Korea throughout the tournament.

“They were very passionate, and in the championship match, there were many fans rooting for South Korea. We really had a happy time playing volleyball here,” she said.