2024-04-09 10:00:17
Women’s professional volleyball Heungkuk Life Insurance’s ‘Volleyball Empress’ Kim Yeon-kyung will hit the court again next year. After winning the MVP award at this season’s awards ceremony, she officially announced her intention to extend her current career, saying, “I will take on one more challenge for my fans next year.”
Kim Yeon-kyung was selected as this season’s women’s ‘best star’ at the Dodram 2023-24 V League awards ceremony held at The K Hotel in Yangjae, Seoul on the 8th.
His team, Heungkuk Life Insurance, finished second in the regular league and lost in the championship match against Hyundai Engineering & Construction, failing to win the trophy. However, Kim Yeon-kyung shone as brightly as possible.
Kim Yeon-kyung played all sets of all games this season and showed consistent influence throughout the season, winning the MVP award in the 2nd and 5th rounds by ranking 6th in scoring (775 points) and 2nd in attack success rate (44.98%).
In the selection of the MVP winner, which is decided only by the press vote, Kim Yeon-kyung received 20 out of 31 votes, beating 2nd place Yang Hyo-jin (5 votes) by a large margin, proving that she is not lacking in being evaluated as the best even without a ‘championship premium’.
In addition, Kim Yeon-kyung spent most of her career playing overseas, so she played only seven seasons in Korea, but in six of those seasons, she did not miss the MVP award and showed off her qualities as a top player.
Some predicted that Kim Yeon-kyung, who was a disappointing runner-up for two seasons in a row, might retire after this season, but Kim Yeon-kyung ‘coolly’ announced the extension of her active career through her acceptance speech.
Kim Yeon-kyung said, “I thought a lot about it. “For the sake of the many fans who support me, I will try one more time next season,” she said.
In the men’s division, OK Financial Group’s Leonardo Leiva Martinez (registered name Leo) became the MVP. Leo received 15 votes, beating out Lim Dong-hyuk (Korean Air) of the winning team, who received 12 votes.
Although Leo’s team also failed to win the championship, he performed well, taking second place in scoring (955 points), second place in attack success rate (54.54%), and second place in serving per set (0.489). Leo achieved the Triple Crown even on a day when he was defeated in the third round of the championship match, and his individual performance was not lacking.
In the men’s division, this is the first time that an MVP has been produced from the 3rd place team in the regular league. In addition, with this award, Leo received his fourth MVP trophy in his career, and had the honor of winning the title four times, the most ever in the men’s division.
Leo is currently staying in Korea, but he underwent surgery on his right wrist immediately after the championship match and was unable to attend the awards ceremony. Instead of Leo, his son, Antoine (15), became Prime Minister by proxy.
Antoine expressed his feelings, saying, “I am happy to see my father setting an example as both an athlete and a father.” Antoine, who is learning volleyball, said, “I dream of one day playing on the professional stage like my father.”
The Rookie of the Year Award, which can be won only once in a player’s career, was received by Lee Jae-hyeon (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance) in the men’s category and Kim Se-bin (Korea Expressway Corporation) in the women’s category.
Lee Jae-hyun gradually increased his opportunities in the second half of the season, and toward the end, he played an active role as the team’s starter. As a result, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has produced a new player for two consecutive seasons, following Kim Jun-woo last season.
Kim Se-bin, who entered the professional ranks as the first pick in the first round of this season’s women’s rookie draft, ranked 5th in blocking and 7th in fast attacks, ranking in the top 10 in personal records from the first season.
Jae-Hyun Lee received 27 votes, and Se-Bin Kim swept 30 votes each, beating out his competitors Seo-Jin Yoon (1 vote, KB Insurance) and Yun-Shin Lee (1 vote, GS Caltex).
The men’s best 7 are libero: Ryohei (Korea Electric Power Corporation), setter: Taejun Han (Woori Card), middle blockers: Shin Young-seok (Korea Electric Power Corporation) and Lee Sang-hyun (Wooori Card), outside heaters: Yosubani (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance), Heo Soo-bong (Hyundai Capital) ), Leo (OK Financial Group) was named in Apogit.
In the women’s division, the libero is Myung-ok Lim (Road Corporation), the setter is Kim Da-in (Hyundai Engineering & Construction), the middle blockers are Choi Jeong-min (IBK Industrial Bank of Korea) and Yang Hyo-jin (Hyundai Engineering & Construction), the outside heaters are Kim Yeon-kyung and Jia (Cheong Kwan-jang), and the apositem Silva ( GS Caltex) won each award.
Yang Hyo-jin of the women’s division was selected as the best 7 for 10 consecutive seasons, and Shin Young-seok of the men’s division was selected as the best 7 for 8 consecutive seasons.
The best 7 men and women were selected by combining 60% of the votes and 40% of the records from 10% of the experts, 40% of the media, and 10% of the coaches and captains.
The Coach Award went to Korean Air coach Tommy Tilikainen (men’s division) and Hyundai Engineering & Construction (women’s division) coach Kang Seong-hyung, who led the men’s and women’s division wins, respectively.
(Seoul = News 1)
2024-04-09 10:00:17