South Korea were crowned as winners of the 2026 AVC Women’s Volleyball Cup after beating Chinese Taipei in the gold medal match, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22.
The Korean squad finished the group stages of the tournament with five straight wins before defeating defending champions Vietnam in the semi-finals match, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22.
Vietnam secured the bronze medal after defeating Kazakhstan in straight sets, 25-17, 25-12, 25-19.
Korean team captain Kang So-hwi bagged the Most Valuable Player and Best Outside Hitter medals during the awarding ceremony held at the Candon City Arena in Candon, Philippines.
Vietnamese setter Thi Kim Thoa Vo, Korean opposite Na Hyun-soo, Chinese Taipei outside hitter Tsai Yu-Chun, Korean middle hitter Park Eun-jin, Chinese Taipei middle player Chen Ciao-En, and Chinese Taipei libero Lin Chi-Jung joined Kang in this year’s AVC Cup dream team.
World rankings
South Korea dropped to No.40 in the FIVB World Ranking after the departure of star players Kim Yeon-koung and Yang Hyo-jin.
However, the team’s triumph in the fifth edition of the AVC Cup helped them move up nine positions in the world rankings to No.31.
China, Japan, and Thailand are not competing in the continental tournament since the three nations are part of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL).
It was also South Korea’s first appearance in the AVC tournament after Ukraine took over their spot in this year’s Women’s VNL.
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Redemption arc
After the country’s VNL relegation, South Korea appointed Cha Sang-hyun as the official head coach of the women’s volleyball team and made changes in the team’s composition.
The team’s 2026 AVC Cup win will serve as a major boost as Korea starts their redemption bid on the volleyball scene.
Head coach Cha is expected to use the tournament win as a motivation to help guide her squad to more titles in upcoming international volleyball competitions.
Korea will only have a few weeks to prepare before they fly to Tianjin, China, from August 21 to 30 for the AVC Volleyball Continental Championships 2026.
The AVC champs are also expected to fly to Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, in September for the 20th Asian Games.
The country needs to secure more points from the upcoming international volleyball tournaments to help boost its bid to redeem its VNL spot in the following years.
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Geoffrey H. Latayan 
Andre Alfonso R. Gutierrez 
Newsjustnews writers