Just less than a year after enduring a difficult campaign on the world stage, Kang Sowhi and South Korea finally found redemption.
The Koreans completed a flawless run in the 2026 AVC Women’s Volleyball Cup on Sunday, sweeping Chinese Taipei, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22, in the final at the Candon City Arena to cap a perfect tournament campaign and reclaim continental glory.
The triumph stood in stark contrast to their struggles in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League, where South Korea finished at the bottom of the standings with a 1-11 record and was relegated from the world’s premier annual volleyball competition.
For Kang, who was named Tournament Most Valuable Player and Best Outside Hitter, the championship was a fitting reward for a team that weathered adversity and stayed united through it all.
“First of all, the national team, 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,” said Kang through an interpreter.
(C) AVC
The road back was far from easy. South Korea entered the AVC Women’s Volleyball Cup still carrying the disappointment of its VNL campaign, where losses piled up and confidence steadily declined.
Rather than dwell on those setbacks, the Koreans used the tournament as a chance to rebuild confidence and chase valuable world ranking points.
“For us, while we were in the VNL, we were losing very many games. Our confidence was really low,” Kang admitted. “That’s why 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.”
That renewed confidence was evident throughout the tournament. South Korea went unbeaten in Candon, navigating the field without dropping a match before closing out its title run with a commanding sweep of Chinese Taipei in the championship match.
More importantly, the title gave the Koreans a much-needed boost heading into the next phase of their international campaign. With the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan on the horizon, South Korea hopes to carry the momentum and confidence gained from its AVC championship run into one of Asia’s biggest sporting stages.
“I hope we’ll bring this good energy into the Asian Games, probably we’ll have good result then.”
