Korea head into the World Grand Prix hoping
to improve on the 14th place they posted in 2013, the last time they competed
in the event. Ideally they would hope to match or improve on their bronze
medal-winning campaign of 1997. The team have long been one of the best in Asia
and remain a force to be reckoned with in any tournament, but they were
consistently one of the best squads in the world for about a decade from the
late 1960s. They lost in the semifinal at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games,
eventually coming fourth, and took the bronze medal at Montreal 1976. They
claimed bronze at the 1967 and 1974 World Championships, and also came third in
both the 1973 and 1977 World Cups.
They proved they can still compete at the
highest level during the London 2012 Olympic Games where they made it all the
way to the semifinal before losing to the United States. They were beaten by
Japan in the bronze medal match. The Koreans have been a model of consistency
at continental level, amassing a multitude of silver and bronze medals over the
years at the Asian Championships and Asian Games, though a 1994 success in the
latter competition remains their only gold medal in continental competitions to
date. |