South Korea men's volleyball opens Asian Games with 3-0 sweep of Philippines

South Korea's men's national volleyball team (world ranking No. 35) opened its 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games campaign with a commanding victory over the Philippines (No. 113) in Group D preliminary play.

The team, led by head coach Isanaye Ramirez, defeated the Philippines 3-0 (25-16, 27-25, 25-22) on Sunday at Park Arena Komaki in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

South Korea dominated the first set, overpowering the Philippines with strong offensive play.

The second set proved more difficult. South Korea fell behind after conceding consecutive points from a 22-21 lead, surrendering the advantage. The match went to deuce, and at 24-24 South Korea was on the verge of dropping the set after failing to stop a Philippines attack.

However, a Philippines service error followed by two consecutive attack errors at 24-25 allowed South Korea to take a 2-0 set lead.

South Korea closed out the match in the third set. Struggling against the Philippines' quick middle attacks, the team trailed 14-15 before Choi Jun-hyeok (Korean Air) and Im Sung-jin (Armed Forces Athletic Corps) combined with a Philippines attack error to score three consecutive points and retake the lead.

From there, South Korea relied on Im Dong-hyeok to maintain momentum through tight moments. Im converted attacks calmly at 17-17 and again when South Korea led 19-18.

South Korea sealed the win at 21-20, stretching the lead to three points on a Philippines service error and a service ace by Lee Sang-hyeon (Armed Forces Athletic Corps).

Im Sung-jin topped the team with 13 points, while Im Dong-hyeok and Jeong Han-yong each contributed 11.

South Korea faces Taiwan (No. 55) on Monday and China (No. 34) on Tuesday. The top two teams in the group advance to the quarterfinals.

The men's volleyball team had won medals in 14 consecutive Asian Games, from the 1966 Bangkok Games (silver) through the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games (bronze), before finishing seventh at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.