Republic of Korea open account, defeating Kazakhstan and move on to Dortmund 

This Asian continental clash was a one-sided 60 minutes as Republic of Korea finally got off of the mark at Germany/Netherlands 2025 with a dominant win. The result means that the Koreans move on to the main round in Dortmund and Kazakhstan drop down into the President’s Cup.

Group H
Republic of Korea vs Kazakhstan 35:17 (15:7)

Kazakhstan coach Aliaksandr Sytsko is known for taking early team timeouts with his team, but against the Asian silver medallists in their final game in Trier, he took his earliest so far.

Just short of four minutes gone, his side were 3:0 down but the pause did little to stem the flow with his side not scoring until 10 minutes were on the clock, Zhanerke Seitkassym finally hitting the back of the net (5:1).

By this point, a sluggish Kazakhstan were well out of contention and the only way the game would have changed would have been if Korea lost their concentration, which they did at times, Kazakhstan brining the score within three (8:5, 18th minute) as the turnovers racked up from both teams, moving up from 15 in the first 10 minutes, to 23 by the half-time pause.

However, Korea led the charge once more before the break, outscoring their opponents 7:2 in the remainder of the opening 30 to go in eight-up (15:7), which saw the Kazakhstan goalkeepers make just one save between them and the Korean pair of Jinhui Jeong and Saeyoung Park impressing down the other end. Park ended with 11 saves (58%) in the game.

It did not improve too much for the Kazakhs in the second half as Sytsko took his second time out with just over six minutes gone in the second period, following a breakdown in the Korea attack which had seen Ji In Jung steal the ball but take too many steps with an open goal at her beckoning.

Korea coach Kyechung Lee could not hide his disproval at this lack of focus and this is something that will need to change quickly if they plan to get anything in Dortmund as earlier losses against both Norway and Angola mean they will not take any points with them into the next phase.

Korea’s record against their rivals now sees them taking 17 wins out of the 19 games played in total and both teams leave Trier heading in very different directions at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship.

hummel Player of the Match: Saeyoung Park (Republic of Korea)