Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 15, 2016 - It is time for the knockout stage of the women’s volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the first ones to come out on the court at the Maracanazinho for their quarterfinal clash are the teams of Korea and the Netherlands.
The two sides have met 14 times in major international competitions and the Asian squad nine of these matches.
Two of these encounters took at the Olympic Games, both at Atlanta 1996 and both were won by the European team. In the group phase of the tournament in USA, the Dutch achieved a 3-1 (15-11, 15-12, 7-15, 15-8) victory on July 26, 1996. Six days later, in the fifth place match, the Netherlands shut out Korea by 3-0 (15-9, 15-9, 15-13).
The most recent encounter between the two countries occurred earlier this year, at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan. On May 15, it was the Koreans who mastered a 3-0 (29-27, 25-23, 25-21) shutout of their European opponents.
To make the quarterfinals at Rio 2016, Korea finished third in Pool A with three wins, two losses and nine points.
Their biggest star on the squad, Kim Yeon Koung, has tallied up 85 points so far, ranking fifth in the current Best Scorers chart.
The Netherlands finished runners-up in Pool B with a 4-1 win-loss record and 11 points, losing narrowly only to pool winners USA.
Their opposite Lonneke Sloetjes is the best scorer of the tournament so far with 100 points on her account.