Kazakhstan's men's volleyball team secured a come-from-behind victory over Hong Kong in the 9th-16th place match at the Asian Games in Japan. Trailing 0-2 in sets, the Kazakhs turned the match around and won 3-2, according to infohub.kz.

Having missed out on medal contention, Sergei Trikoz's squad began the 9th-16th place tournament with a hard-fought win over Hong Kong. The opponents were evenly matched, and a fierce battle raged from the first rally to the last.

ASIAN GAMES 2026
Volleyball. Men. 9th-16th place match
KAZAKHSTAN – HONG KONG 3-2 (22-25, 24-26, 25-20, 26-24, 15-11)

At first, luck smiled on the opponents: they scored the crucial points in key moments of the first two sets. From the third set onward, our players stepped up significantly. Having turned the tide, they took one set, then another, and confidently won the fifth set.

The match against Hong Kong became a showcase for Klim Ryukhov. The outside hitter for Kazakhstan scored 27 points, 25 of them from attacks (1 block and 1 serve). His fellow outside hitter Azamat Seilkhanov contributed 15 points (14 attacks + 1 block).

With the win, our team has secured at least 12th place at the Asian Games. In their next match, Kazakhstan will face either Kyrgyzstan or Chinese Taipei.

The men's volleyball tournament at the Asian Games has been held since 1958. Japan has won it most often. Kazakhstan has never finished on the podium.

The 20th Summer Asian Games officially opened on September 19 and will conclude on October 4. Athletes from 45 countries are competing for 460 sets of medals. Kazakhstan's team at the 2026 Asian Games includes 558 athletes in 35 sports.

On the first day of the Games, Kazakhstan won four gold medals. Cyclists Rinata Sultanova and Alexey Lutsenko became champions, as did karatekas Zholaman Bigabyl and Sofia Berultseva. The fifth gold was added by MMA fighter Yerkingali Burkutalin. The sixth by his teammate in mixed martial arts, Kadyrbek Shynbayev. On September 23, Lutsenko became a two-time champion of the 2026 Asian Games. The eighth gold medal was won on September 24 by rowers Vladislav Yakovlev and Ivan Chernukhin in the men's coxless pairs. The ninth gold medal was claimed on September 27 by our epee fencing team.

After 11 days of the Games, Kazakhstan was in ninth place in the unofficial medal standings.