Korea's happiness after hardly made victory in their first match
Katowice, Poland, September 1, 2014- After long four sets battle, Korea claimed a 3-1 (24-26, 26-24, 25-21, 25-18) victory over more experienced Tunisian team. The battle between two continents, full of unexpected twists, exhausted both teams, but satisfied spectators in Spodek sports hall.
Key points:
• This was the third match between Korea and Tunisia at the World Championships. Korea won 3-0 in 1974 and Tunisia won 3-2 in 2006. Now Korea leads 2-1
• This is Tunisia's ninth World Championships. Their best rank is 15th in 2006 and they finished 19th in 2010.
• Of all African teams, Tunisia have the most participations in world championship.
• Chul-Woo Park (24 points) and Seung-Suk Kwak (12 points) led Korea to the victory.
• Marouen Garci with 16 points and Ismail Moalla with 12 points were top scorers in Tunisia side.
• Korea scored 58 points with spiking, while Tunisia made 43.
Korea supporting by a group of their fans gained the opening point of the match. Jeon and Shin displayed an effective block which stopped Tunisia’s attack just at the beginning of the first set. Tunisia with their powerful serves and fine defence were able to set counterattacks what helped them with catching up the score at 8-8. Additionally, some technical mistakes made by Korea in the second part of the set led Tunisia to get 17-11 ahead. After some fine spikes and catching up with 17-14, Tunisia’s coach was forced to call for the timeout. The ending of the first set was played point by point, but finally Omar Agrebi and Ben Khaled finished the set 26:24 with an effective block.
The opening of the second set was better for the Korea team. Their very dynamic play and technically perfect serves led them to the 6-4 advantage. Tunisia’s answer wasn’t strong enough to stop well-playing Koreans. Asian players cheered up with every scored point what only pushed them to play better. Sang-Ha Park claimed his force by a block and Chul-Woo Park added a great spike. Tunisia’s Ahmed Kadhi helped his team with adding two aces and Tunisia led 16-15 during the second technical timeout. Exciting ending of the second set ended 26-24 with a huge Korean’s spike.
The third set started point by point and spectators gathered in Katowice’s Spodek could watch a spectacle of strength from both sides of the court. Fine spikes by Myung-Geun Song and Sang-Ha Park of Korea led them ahead 8-7 on the first technical timeout. Next minutes of the third set brought as equal game as it was presented by both teams during the previous parts of the match. Some trials in block and fine defences made actions long and attractive. Eventually, Korea’s Kwang-In Jeon hit a great left-wing spike and finished the set 25-21.
Taking experience from the previous sets, both teams exchanged points one by one, trying to work some comfortable leading. Thanks to fine defence and being focused in spiking, it was possible for Korea to go ahead 13-9. Additionally, Tunisia made simple technical errors what prevented them from turning out the course of the set. 18-12 leading was hard to level and Korea confidently run throughout the fourth set, winning 25-18 and the whole match 3-1.