Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-2037710-20130828223441/@comment-6697950-20130907042211

Just to add to what TUSF said, Asuna's original ALO character did not belong to any race, as she was not a player, but a captive.

Anyway, Shadow's point was that Asuna's choice in race is an allusion to the alliance that Kirito mentioned, however, we have no confirmation on that, so it's currently just speculation.