Team Mongolia’s Khandsuren Gantogtokh competed in the Premier Volleyball League Finals before appearing on Physical: Asia

Before appearing on the Netflix series Physical: Asia, Mongolian athlete Khandsuren Gantogtokh competed in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) in the Philippines.

Known as Handa, she was part of the Taiwanese club KingWhale Taipei, which participated as a guest team in the 2022 PVL Reinforced Conference.

Handa and her team reached the Finals, where they faced the Creamline Cool Smashers, according to OneSports.

Khandsuren Gantogtokh: From Premier Volleyball League finals to Physical: Asia

Volleyball career and PVL performance

During​‍​‌‍​‍‌ the 2022 PVL Invitational Conference, Handa was playing the middle blocker position for KingWhale Taipei. She was with the starting lineup from the beginning and stayed there throughout five games, the semifinals, and the Finals.

The pair lost only once during the conference, and that was in the final match versus Creamline.

Handa has been playing volleyball for the Mongolian national team since 2015. This means that she had a solid competitive background before Physical: Asia.

In the Netflix series, one of the six athletes who represented Team Mongolia was Handa. The other members were Orkhonbayar Bayarsaikhan, Adiyasuren Amarsaikhan, Dulguun Enkhbat, Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu, and Lkhagva-Ochir ​‍​‌‍​‍‌Erdene-Ochir.

Participation in Physical: Asia

In Physical: Asia, Team Mongolia competed in multiple quests and challenges as part of the Netflix series.

The​‍​‌‍​‍‌ team scored 1,143 points in Quest 4 Round 1 and thus were ranked third behind Australia (1,336 pts) and Japan (1,194 pts).

In​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Quest 4 Round 2, Japan topped the chart with 1,116 points, and the last three teams - Mongolia, Australia, and Korea- thus entered the Death Match.

The Death match was a team of three who had to push a 1,200 kg pillar for 100 laps; the participants were Khandsuren Gantogtokh, Orkhonbayar Bayarsaikhan, and Adiyasuren Amarsaikhan for Mongolia.

The Battle Rope Relay competitors were not allowed to take part in this ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌round.

Mongolia was the second team to successfully complete the task, which was a head-to-tail competition with Australia, the latter being the ​‍​‌‍​‍‌third.

Later rounds and final placement

Right​‍​‌‍​‍‌ after the Death Match, the Mongolian team participated in the Preliminary Game, which was the Manual Treadmill Relay. For this challenge, each team had to select one male and one female athlete to share the treadmill for three minutes.

The Mongolian team covered 917 meters and thus were placed third behind Korea with 1,114 meters and Japan with 1,024 meters. Their ranking was used to determine their place and advantage for the next quest.

In Quest 5, the team from Mongolia moved their 2.2-ton supply wagon through the castle arena, climbed the rope and lowered the bridge, walked on the uneven ground with the help of support beams, and made the final lift of the drawbridge to finish the task.

The team accomplished this task in 25 minutes and 15 seconds, so they were the second team to finish after Team Korea, who completed in 17 minutes and 53 ​‍​‌‍​‍‌seconds.

In the Final Quest, Team Mongolia competed in three sequential games. In Game 1, the Wall-Pushing Match, the team won the first round but lost the subsequent two rounds to Team Korea.

In Game 2, the Iron Ball Dragging Match, Team Mongolia completed all five rounds before losing in a tie-break round to Korea.

Because the teams were tied 1–1, Game 3, the Infinite Tail Tag Match, was available, but Team Mongolia had already been determined as the second-place finisher after Game 2 results.

Their final placement in the series was second, with Team Korea declared the winner of Physical: Asia.

Stay tuned for more updates.