‘Two consecutive wins’ Korean Air, ‘Public Enemy’ by the most teams
Hyundai Capital, which has completed the rebuilding, is also mentioned as a candidate for the championship.
For the past two seasons, the strongest team in the men’s professional volleyball team was Korean Air.
Korean Air, which won the first regular league and championship match in the 2020-2021 season, achieved the feat of winning the combined championship in the 2021-2022 season as well.
Korean Air, which is challenging for the combined championship until the 2022-2023 season ahead of the opening season, was a strong candidate for the championship chosen by the managers of seven men’s professional volleyball teams.
At the V-League Men’s Media Day held at the Cheongdam Rivera Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 18th, Korean Air was treated as a ‘winner’ by five of the coaches of seven clubs.
Shin Young-cheol (58), manager of Woori Card, who first mentioned Korean Air, said, “All teams have power that is comparable to the championship candidates, but if I were to pick one team, Korean Air had the same members.
He said, “The basic skills are good and there is a best setter named Han, so Korean Air’s power is the best.”
Kim Sang-woo (49), manager of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, also said, “There is no power leak and I have a good setter (played by one player).
Here, the growth of young players is remarkable and their organizational skills stand out.” He selected Korean Air, and OK Financial Group manager Seok Jin-wook (46) said, “I confirmed that the skills of the young players have improved at the cup competition.
A strong team.”
Korean Air manager Tommy Tilikainen (35), who took over as the team’s manager last season and led the team to the championship, said, “The motivation of the players to achieve the record (three consecutive wins) is clear.
We will choose our team for those players.”
If Korean Air wins the championship by this season, it will become the second consecutive men’s volleyball championship to win three consecutive championships following Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which achieved the combined championship from the 2011-2012 season to the 2013-2014 season.
Choi Tae-woong (46), manager of Hyundai Capital, also selected Korean Air as the ‘first choice for the championship’ for similar reasons.
Instead, he said, “This year, I’m trying to bully Korean Air so that it can’t easily win.
For two years rebuilding our team, it was painful not being able to respond even though we knew how to do it, but this year we will definitely try to stop it.”
For the past two seasons, Hyundai Capital was absolutely inferior to Korean Air with 2 wins and 10 losses.
In fact, unlike the two seasons that contributed to Korean Air’s victory, this year, following rebuilding, declared that it would show a different image.
As if supporting Choi’s confidence, there were also two coaches who mentioned Hyundai Capital as a candidate for the championship.
Hu In-jeong (48), manager of KB Insurance, who finished second in both the regular league and the championship game following being beaten by Korean Air last season, said, “We chose a good foreign player (Oreol Cameho, registered name Oreol).
We even picked a good rookie in the draft, so as director Taewoong Choi said, following two years of trial and error, I think he might show a good side this time.”
Kwon Young-min (42), head coach of Korea Electric Power Corporation, said, “I like good foreign players and the existing players are so good that they have the best power.”
The V-League men’s team will start the six-month long journey with the match between last season’s winning team Korean Air and 2nd place KB Insurance to be held at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon on the 22nd.
/yunhap news
