[Asian Games] Women’s hockey coach Han Jin-soo “It’s a shame we conceded the first goal… The Olympic finals are a must”

Korean women’s national hockey team coach Han Jin-soo cited “conceding early goals” as the reason for the team’s loss in the finals of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and pledged,

“I will make every effort to advance to the Olympic finals.”

National Hockey Team

Korea lost 0-2 to China in the women’s hockey finals held at the Archer Canal Sports Park in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China on the 7th.

Although a return to normalcy failed for the first time in 9 years since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games,

the disappointment of no medal (4th place) at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games was somewhat washed away. 카지노사이트탑

Coach Han Jin-soo said in an interview after the game,

“The players played well, but because we conceded goals too early in the beginning,

we had to spend a lot of stamina to make up for it.”

He added, “Ahead of this Asian Games, there were opportunities such as New Zealand training camp and foreign team invitational competitions,

but “If we gain more international experience than we have now,

the competitiveness of Korean women’s hockey will improve,” he said.

The absence of Baek Yi-seul (Asan City Hall) due to injury was also disappointing.

Han Jin-soo

Coach Han said, “Baek I-seul injured his finger bone during the group match against India and has not been able to play since.

Since then, the players have had to run one step more to fill Baek I-seul’s space,

which has led to a lot of physical exhaustion.”

Korea won a dramatic victory in a shootout after drawing 2-2 with Japan in the semifinals two days ago.

Coach Han expressed regret, saying, “In both the match against India and the semifinals against Japan,

we were able to score first and play well, but today, the early goals ended up holding us back.”

But the Asian Games are not the end.

Coach Han said, “The Asian Champions Trophy will be held in India at the end of this month,

the final Olympic qualifiers will be held in January 2024.

Since we were not able to participate in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, I really wanted to win today.”

China, which won the Hangzhou Asian Games, will receive a gold medal and a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Korean women’s hockey advanced to the Olympic finals eight times in a row,

from the 1988 Seoul Games to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, but failed to advance to Tokyo in 2021.

Coach Han Jin-soo pledged, “I will prepare well for the Olympic preliminaries in January next year and do my best to advance to the finals.”