Volleyball board Achaem opening D-1… Korean Air, warming up for the first practice
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- on May 14, 2023
The opening of the 2023 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, where Asia’s top men’s volleyball clubs compete, is a day away has come As Incheon Korean Air Jumbos seeks their first win after Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, attention is drawn to the faces of their opponents. The opponent team has players who participated in this V-League foreign player tryout, so it is noteworthy whether they are active.
The Korean Air team, which has arrived in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, and is preparing for the tournament, will play a group stage match at the local ISA Sports City Stadium from the 14th (Korean time).
Korean Air, which participated in the tournament as the winner of the Dodram 2022-2023 V-League men’s division, belonged to Group A out of four groups (total of 16 teams).
The opponents in Group A will face Korean Air once each, the home team, Bahrain’s Al Ahli Sports Club, Australia’s Canberra Heat, and Indonesia’s Jakarta Bayangkara Presici.
Korean Air will face Canberra on the 14th, Al Ahli on the 15th, and Jakarta on the 16th, and will play the first group stage for three days in a row. Only the top 2 in Group A can compete with the top 8 teams in the 2nd group stage.
The first opponent, Canberra, was the Australian Volleyball League champion last year. Canberra won their home league title in 2022, following in 2011 and 2015. At the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championships, he ranked 10th in 2017 and 9th in 2018.
The Canberra head coach is coach Ben Hardy, who has Olympic experience. Canberra recruited Matthew Aubry from Sweden and Adam Bradbury from England for this tournament.
One player to watch for Canberra is veteran and captain Andre Borzo. Borzo is a franchise star who has been active in Canberra since he was in his teens and now in his mid-30s.
In a recent interview with the Australian Volleyball Association, Borzo said, “I have participated in this tournament a few times. revealed
Borzo presented the goal of advancing to the quarterfinals. He explained, “It would be ecstatic to reach the quarterfinals, but it would be good to finish 9th to 12th,” he explained.
Regarding Canberra, the first opponent, Korean Air coach Tommy Tilikhainen showed some confidence, saying that he lacked information. He said, “There is no data. The key point is how we do it.”
Al Ahli, the opponent in the second game, is the winner of the 2021-2022 Bahrain Volleyball League. In order to win the first ever championship in this tournament held in their country, Al-Ahli made a large-scale investment by recruiting three foreign players right before the tournament with petrodollars at the fore.
Yosbani Hernandez (Cuba), who confirmed going to Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in the first place in the 2023 men’s foreign player tryout draft, will play in this tournament as a member of Al Ahli. Yosbani, before joining Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, received a large sum of money from Al Ahli and digested this tournament.
Gabriel Candido, an apositive striker from Brazil who played in the French league, will also play for Al Ahli in this tournament. Candido is a player who was not selected by Korean clubs in this foreign tryout.
Al-Ahli is burning his will to win the Italian and French leagues by urgently transfusing Davide Saita, a setter with thick bones. Saita is known as a veteran, rated as one of the world’s best setters.
Jakarta, the opponent in the third game, is the runner-up team in the 2023 Indonesian ProLiga.
One player to note in this team is Okello Daudi (Uganda). Dowdy Okello, who played for Hyundai Capital and KEPCO, attempted to return to the Korean stage in this tryout, but was not selected by the V-League clubs. Daudi, who returned to his team in Jakarta, Indonesia, seems to be planning revenge.
If Korean Air advances to the quarterfinals, there is a possibility of meeting the Japanese team Suntory Sunbirds. Suntory is the runner-up team in the Japanese V-League in the 2022-2023 season.
Suntory has Robert Randy Simon (Cuba), who won the Korean stage at OK Financial Group, and Dmitri Mushalsky (Russia), who was considered the world’s best middle blocker.
Head coach Tillikainen, who has dealt with Mushalski while serving as Nagoya’s head coach in the Japanese league, also met and talked with Muchhalski at the lodgings for this tournament. Regarding Mushalski, coach Tillikainen expressed confidence, saying, “I hope we can meet and face off this time,” and “I have a counter tactic because I have dealt with (in Japan) before.”
On the 13th, the day before the opening of the tournament, Korean Air visited the Isa Sports City Stadium, the final arena, and digested the first practical training.
While Han and Kim Kyu-min voluntarily volunteered to serve as ball boys, the rest of the players practiced for 1 hour and 30 minutes from 4:30 pm under the direction of coach Tillikainen. Lim Dong-hyuk and Son Hyeon-jong, who will be appointed as a positive spiker on behalf of Lincoln, a foreign player who did not participate in this tournament, intensively hit the ball.
Jeong Han-yong, who will be put in as an outside heater along with Kwak Seung-seok, also tried to attack frequently, raising the sense of the game.
During training that day, Han approached Jung Jin-hyeok, a junior setter who would play in his place, and gave him advice. Kim Gyu-min also had a conversation with his junior Kim Min-jae.
Korean Air players practiced with the official Mikasa ball, which is different from the Star ball used in the V-League. Coach Tillikainen, who evaluated that a floater serve with a Mikasa ball could make more changes than a star ball, used his hand to imitate the ball swinging from side to side with Kwak Seung-seok.메이저사이트
When Korean Air finished training around 6:00 p.m., Australian team Canberra players entered the opening match. As the players kept each other in check, coach Tillikainen shook hands with Canberra players he knew before leaving the field.