Currently, the main goal of the majority of representatives of summer sports is to win trips to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The women's volleyball team of Russia, which fought for the right to go to Japan at the international qualifying tournament, did not become an exception. 24 national teams were divided into six groups in accordance with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) rating, and Vadim Pankov's wards had rivals from South Korea, Canada and Mexico as rivals.
A serious help for Russian volleyball players was the fact that the matches of the quartet E were held in Kaliningrad. In the native walls, they quickly felt confident and in the three sets they took the first two meetings. In the confrontation with the Mexicans, only the third game came to an end, ending with a score of 26:24, while the remaining two opponents scored a total of 21 points. Canadians had more serious resistance, but also gave way to dry.
Thus, for the Russian national team to reach the final of the 2020 Olympics, it was necessary to take precedence over the most masterful of the group rivals. As of January 2019, volleyball players from South Korea took the ninth place in the general classification and were acting bronze medalists of the Asian Games. At the same time, in the face-to-face confrontation, the wards of Pankov owned a significant advantage. Over the past five years, teams met six times with each other, with four times success accompanied by domestic athletes.
The start of the decisive match of the tournament turned out to be extremely equal. The teams scored points with almost the same frequency up to the middle of the game, when the Koreans made a four-point jerk. Particularly impressive was the striker Kim Yong Gong, who was breaking through the Russian block over and over again. As a result, the wards of Pankov could not play this handicap and lost the game.
The second set went through a similar scenario. Russians had serious problems with attacks at the first pace and often acted extremely inconsistently. So, they repeatedly could not decide who should play this or that ball, which in the end often became the cause of errors. Leaders also looked unconvincing. So, for the first two sets, Natalya Goncharova was noted in total with only five accurate shots, and Irina Koroleva scored one point more.
Opponents caught courage and continued to find holes in the defense of Russian women. The team of Stefano Lavarini acted at a very fast pace, and even the judicial oversights could not prevent them. So, the chief arbiter repeatedly failed to notice the touch of the domestic blockers, but after a video preview, he was often forced to change his mind.
So, for the entire second set, the Russians have never scored in the account and only at the very beginning had an equal number of points with opponents (3: 3). The South Korean team secured a comfortable advantage and did not allow themselves a second of relaxation. The game ended with an inaccurate punch by Irina Voronkova and the subsequent missed “challenge”.
In the course of the third installment, the Russian fans practically lost hope for success. After a good start, the wards of Pankov again began to make too many unforced errors, which allowed the Koreans not only to catch up, but also to overtake them. To the final segment of the party, the mistresses of the parquet were on the verge of defeat, yielding 18:22.
However, the sudden spurt of Russian women caught their opponents off guard. Thanks to the brilliant play of Irina Fetisova, they were able to seize the initiative and immediately take seven draws in a row. South Korean volleyball players tried to play at the first pace, but they constantly ran into blocking hands.
This fiasco seriously hit the emotional state of the Korean women, who were never able to control themselves in the next set. Russian women were looking stronger than their counterparts, and at one point their advantage reached ten points. Pankov released a spare on the floor, but even in the absence of the leading volleyball players, the national team did not blunder and equalized the score by the parties.
After that, the hostess of the parquet no longer had the right to miss the victory, but still managed to tickle the nerves of their fans. They confidently started the set, but lost three consecutive draws and ended up in the role of catch-up. The Korean women continued to solo Kim, who recorded at his own expense 25 points.
But the last word left for the Russian team. With the score 9:11, she took six points in a row. The key role was played by Goncharov and Korolev, who scored 37 (20 and 17 respectively) points for two for the entire match. Thanks to this victory, domestic volleyball players won first place in their quartet qualifying tournament and won a ticket to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.