Will 'Asian dominance' take volleyball by storm in the V-League?

The Korea Volleyball Federation (KF) will hold the 2024 Men's Volleyball Asia Quarterfinal Tryouts.

The federation announced that the men's Asia Quarter tryouts will be held from May 1-3 at Halla Gymnasium and Sun Hotel in Jeju Island.

Of the 69 applicants received between Feb. 1 and March 14, 30 players were evaluated by their respective clubs and selected for the Jeju invitation list.

Five players who played in the V-League last season were added to the list, bringing the total to 35.

Ryohei, who was the core of KEPCO's defense, Bayarsaihan, who was the center wall for OK Financial Group, Eddie, who played for Samsung Fire, Liu Hong-min, who played for KB Insurance, and Fei Chang, who played as a middle blocker for Hyundai Capital, are returning.

In addition, there will be some new faces, including China's Xinfeng Deng (OH, 23, 2m2) and Iran's Amirhassan Fahadi (OH, 26, 2m2), who were highly anticipated in the club's preliminary evaluation.

The men's players will be paid $100,000 for the first year and $120,000 for the second year, with each team having an equal one-in-seven chance of selecting one player after the lottery.

The federation plans to pull out all the stops to make the second Asian Quarter tryouts a success.

One thing that stands out is the large participation of Iranian players. A whopping 17 of the 30 new players, including five from the previous season, are Iranian. That's 56.8%.

Despite Japan's recent dominance, Iran is still the undisputed king of Asian men's volleyball. They have won the last three Asian Games gold medals (2014, 2018, 2022).