South Korea - Women's V-League 2020-2021

  • Due to the Korean Government raising the Social-Distancing-Level from Level 1 to Level 2, no audience will be admitted to the KOVO Cup unlike previously announced. Other Sports like Baseball which have had a small number of fans in the venues were also forced to switch to no live audience again.


    https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2…section=national/national



    KOVO Website Yonhapnews

  • It is all so depressing, she was such a talented player.

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    Shortly after her tragic death, bereaved family released parts of Go Yoo-min’s diary – where she described her sad feelings caused by emotional abuse from Hyundai coaching staff (source). Later, her mother mentioned Lee Do-hee specifically as a person who administered this, and claimed that Hyundai E&C horrible treatment of her daughter was the direct reason she committed suicide.


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    Her mother started a petition to open an official investigation. It was signed by thousands of Koreans.

    Yesterday (source 1, 2, 3), she gave an emotional statement accompanied by lawyer and government official. Some other troubling facts were revealed in the meantime:


    In her case “voluntary withdrawal” is simply not true. She was fired without proper contract release fee and without a chance to continue her career in other club (it’s mind-boggling how this system works in Korea). Hyundai rejects this claim. It's an complicated issue, more info in this article.


    Hyundai claims that they had conducted an internal investigation and everything seems to be in order.


    Many Korean fans are really upset , they want Hyundai coach Lee Do-hee to step down.


    Additional sources: 1, 2, 3


    Edit: fixed links

    Edit 2: I've deleted line about toxic relations among players. This issue wasn't raised during press conference. It's better to wait for proper official inquiry.

  • That make sense. Really horrible. Is this really what volleyball world is? On the picture or videos they are happy and supportive each other but when there is no camera the bullying and competition and everything is coming out.

    Modern Korea in general is well known for it’s ferocious competitiveness and stressful work environment – they also struggle with suicide. S. Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries (source https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/suicide-rates.htm).

  • Media report from press conference.

    Good article here. Some info might be lost in translation - native Korean speakers urgently needed.


    Hyundai E&C persuaded Go Yoo-min to sign a special agreement. She agreed to terminate her contract and give up five months of her salary. In return, the club promised her trade. There was also special clause - she could not disclose any details of this agreement with other parties.


    Trade didn't happen. Club didn't honor the agreement or they did try but without much interest - clearly there was some miscommunication between them and KOVO. In the effect she was officialy deregistered from Korean League.


    In the future she could only resume her career in Hyundai, where she was obviously not needed, club already gave her number (7) to a new player.


    She ended up with a sense of betrayal - without payment and chance to continue her career in other place. She also couldn't express her feelings, she signed confidentiality agreement after all.


    It's horrible.


    Her family decided to file a lawsuit against Hyundai E&C owner. Charges? Alleged violation of Labor's Standards Act. Source.

  • Such a shame!

  • It's disturbing to read about these accusations. Very recently in South Korea there was this high-profile case concerning Choi Suk-hyeon, triathlete who also committed suicide (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53263178).


    I hope that Go case will be examined, there's no place for bullying culture in sports.

    Additionally I think it's time for KOVO to change some of it's inept regulations. It seems that powerful clubs hold too much power over young and inexperienced players.


    Fortunately, there are (finally) some volleyball matches really soon. I look forward to it, Heungkuk looks unstoppable this year.

  • Hello all. First post in this thread. Not an expert by any means. Just a new fan of the game.


    The team that intrigues me most is the IBK Altos which seems to have obtained the biggest upgrade over the FA period, besides the new Golden State Warriors.


    They lucked out of the foreign draft and got Lazareva, but the left side got much weaker now. Is Kim Ju-hyang a flash in the pan or will she keep improving this year? Even then, her duo with Pyo Seung-ju would still be a notch below the top teams.


    IBK upgraded the setter position with Cho Song-hwa in place of Lee Na-yeon, whose play didn't seem to get the most out of her teammates (maybe it's a coaching issue?). Cho played with Kim Su-ji before so there's already a connection there.


    Lots of fireworks to be anticipated in zone 3 with Suzy Q and Kim Hee-jin, now officially registered as a center and expected to play there full time. It will be interesting to see how Hee-jin adjusts her game and if/how it will affect her for the Olympics (if it still happens in 2021...). The Korean national team really has no OP depth...


    Last season, IBK had all the difficulties in the world to defend and almost finished dead last. Let's see what changes they make this year. The jury is still out on the head coach being the right person for the job.


    Ex-national team setter Kim Sa-nee recently left her broadcasting job to join the IBK coaching staff. It will be interesting to see the dynamics with their newly acquired setter, who Kim Sa-nee has previously said is the "successor" of her style of play.


    The love between them seems mutual.




    Also, isn't Cho Song-hwa the cutest thing in the universe?



  • Yes, she's cute.

    Current IBK squad reminds me a little of Heungkuk 2016-2017 - very likable team. Cho Song-hwa, Kim Su-ji, Shin Yeon-gyeong and Han Ji-hyun they're all ex-Spiders.

    This season won't be easy thought. Last year's was IBK worst since it's foundation, they'll be desperate to improve. Club didn't strengthen Outside Hitter position off-season, so they'll rely heavily on Lazareva.

  • Here are three Korean sites that are broadcasting the men's KOVO Cup live so they should be doing the same for the women's KOVO Cup.

    You will need a South Korean IP for all these sites.


    https://sports.news.naver.com/volleyball/index.nhn

    VOD can be found at https://sports.news.naver.com/volleyball/vod/index.nhn


    https://sports.daum.net/volleyball

    Live streaming in LQ and highlights VODs only (no full replay video).


    http://bj.afreecatv.com/afvolley2

    Live streaming in medium video quality.

    VODs can also be found here too http://bj.afreecatv.com/afvolley1/vods/review


    Edit: I think you will need to install an app to watch in HD at all three of these site.



    If you know of another site feel free to share it.

  • SBS VODs https://programs.sbs.co.kr/sports/kovo/vods/55956

    Can be watched in medium quality (should be around 720p) without a sbs account and without a Korean IP, for Ultra HD you need a account and it probably wont buffer properly since the site isnt very fast, atleast for me lol (also you will maybe need to disable Adblock otherwise it wont work)

    EDIT: It seems like you will need to create an account otherwise the site will just give you a 3 minute preview of the match in Ultra HD


    I couldnt fool the site to think I was in SK so I wasnt able to watch the SBS Sports (Geoblocked) Livestream http://play.sbs.co.kr/onair/pc/index.html?id=S02


    KOVO are also on NAVER, when you have a Korean IP you can watch Clips and Full Match Replays https://tv.naver.com/kovonv

    (should be pretty much the same as ones theloneracer already linked)

  • OMG KOVO is streaming the men's kovo cup final live on their Youtube channel.

    Fingers crossed that KOVO will do the same for the women's kovo cup final too.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQXUBorGFic


    SBS VODs https://programs.sbs.co.kr/sports/kovo/vods/55956

    Can be watched in medium quality (should be around 720p) without a sbs account and without a Korean IP, for Ultra HD you need a account and it probably wont buffer properly since the site isnt very fast, atleast for me lol (also you will maybe need to disable Adblock otherwise it wont work)

    I can only watch the first 3minutes in the default Super HQ. How do I change it to medium quality? I can't find the icon to change the video quality settings.