Who will stop Woori Bank Sonia Kim-JoongAng Ilbo

Based on the advice of her husband Seung-joon Lee, Sonia Kim effectively blocked Ji-soo Park, who is 20cm taller than her, and contributed to winning the Woori Bank regular league. [연합뉴스]

‘Park Ji-soo’ is expected for women’s professional basketball in the 2020-21 season. As the foreign player system was abolished from this season, there seemed to be no one to stop Park Ji-soo (23·1m96cm), KB’s jangshin center. However, overturning expectations, Asan Woori Bank won the regular league title.

Woori Bank defeated Busan BNK 55-29 in the match held at the Busan BNK Center on the 21st, winning the 2nd consecutive regular league title and winning the 13th. Woori Bank recorded 22 wins and 8 losses, overtaking the second place KB (21 wins and 8 losses) by a semi-match. Even if KB beat Yongin Samsung Life in the final match on the 24th, Woori Bank will lead the match against KB (4 wins and 2 losses). On this day, BNK scored at least 29 points in WKBL history. Woori Bank Park Hye-jin (24 points) and Park Ji-hyun (17 rebounds) were active.

Manager Sang-woo, 50, at the opening of the season, said, “Our goal for this season is third.” Main scorer Park Hye-jin fell into plantar fasciitis at the beginning of the season, and veteran Kim Jong-un even injured an ankle in December last year. Woori Bank stood with gums instead. In particular, forward Sonia Kim (27) competed in all 30 matches and scored 17.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. Compared to last season (8.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists), it is a remarkable record. In particular, Sonia Kim, who is 1m76cm tall, effectively blocked Jisoo Park, who is 20cm taller than KB. Thanks to that, Woori Bank won 4 wins in 6 games against Park Ji-soo’s KB.

Lee Seung-jun and Kim Sonia, who reported their marriage last year. Reporter Kim Sang-sun

Her husband Lee Seung-jun (43), who was from the Korean men’s basketball team, also had a great foreign aid. Sonia Kim was born to a Korean father and a Romanian mother, and Seung-Jun Lee is also an American’Half Korean’. Lee Seung-jun played for men’s professional basketball clubs in Seoul and Samsung since 2009, and retired in 2016.

Lee Seung-jun said on the 21st, “If I were 15 years ago, I would have blocked (Park) Ji-soo one-on-one, but now I will probably be pushed out of power. In that respect, Sonia is really amazing.” 2m5cm tall Seungjun Lee said, “I also faced tall Seungjin Ha (2m21cm) and Janghoon Seo (2m7cm) when I was active. In the national team, Hadadi (Iran, 2m18cm) and Wang Zhi (China, 2m13cm) were blocked. I know how hard it is to stop a tall player. He advised Sonia that’you must get a good spot under the goal first, and use your strength appropriately to block the opponent’. Particularly, I liked breathing with the same team (Park) Jihyun (1m83cm tall). Sonia held up and Jihyun took the ball.” Of the 42 average rebounds for Woori Bank, Sonia Kim and Ji-Hyun Park made 20 joint ventures.

Lee Seung-jun trained one-on-one under the goal with Sonia Kim from the opening of the season. During the season, he nagged affectionately while doing video analysis at his newlyweds in Seoul. The two, who completed their marriage registration last year, are planning to have a wedding when Corona 19 is silent.

Sonia Kim made eight mistakes in the Bucheon Hanawonkyu match on the 18th when he was able to confirm the championship in the regular league. When there was a bad comment on social media, Lee Seung-jun said to Sonia Kim, “Sony (nickname Kim Sonia), you could lose while playing. Learning is important, and tomorrow is more important.”

Woori Bank players who won the regular league championship cheer with trophies. [연합뉴스]

Lee Seung-joon also said, “Director Sung-woo Wi is amazing. I heard that this season is smoother than last year.” Coach Sang-woo Lee, who took over Woori Bank in 2012, won the regular league championship eight times out of nine seasons. Even in the line injury of the main players this season, they raised the praise of’Hwasoobun Basketball’ while raising Kim Jin-hee, Choi Eun-sil, and Oh Seung-in. In particular, Park Ji-hyun (15.3 points, 10.4 rebounds) and Kim Jin-hee, who placed 1st in assists (5.4), were also outstanding. Ace Park Hye-jin also made a big success at the last minute. The team showed a saltwater defense with the least run (62.4 points). “It was really hard when Kim Jong-un was out of the season,” said Sang-woo Lee, “the players showed their mental power and made it together.”

Sonia Kim said, “I seem to dream of winning the regular league in the first season I played as the main game. I will only think about winning the team rather than the MVP.” The best regular league player (MVP) will be announced on the 25th. It is expected that Park Ji-soo and Sonia Kim, who are first in scoring (22.5 points) and rebounds (15.3), will have a second match. Lee Seung-joon laughed, saying, “I would like to have a joint award with Ji-soo, but if I only pick one, I would like Sonia to receive it.” Woori Bank, which has been challenging to win the combined victory in three years after the 2017-18 season, will play a playoff with Samsung Life Insurance (3 matches 2 wins) from the 27th.

Reporter Park Lin [email protected]