The real essence of sports is the spirit of partnership. ‘Volleyball Empress’ Kim Yeon-kyung kept the courtesy of the injured player and the opposing team with the spirit of partnership.
As soon as the set score 3-0 (25-21 27-25 25-15) shutout victory made the difference with Hyundai Engineering & Construction 1st place zero, the players of Heungkuk Life Insurance embraced each other and tried to rejoice. However, Kim Yeon-kyung’s expression was not good. Beckoning to her colleagues, she asked them to assemble and not to her ceremony. Kim Yeon-Kyung asked why did she not do her ceremony and ask her colleagues to refrain?
The Dodram 2022-2023 V-League Women’s Division Hyundai E&C and Heungkuk Life Insurance match held at the Suwon Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do on the 7th was an important confrontation between the two teams fighting fiercely for the regular league championship this season. At Suwon Gymnasium, even though it was a weekday, 3798 seats were sold out, so volleyball fans focused their attention on the leading fight in the women’s ‘second round’.
Kim Yeon-kyung bombed the court at the start of the first set. When she scored, she cheered on her teammates with much bigger than usual celebrations and her eyes were full of determination to win.
She had a reason why Kim Yeon-kyung wanted to win so much. She’s always been on top of the world, but she’s hungry for a V-League title.
Kim Yeon-kyung joined Heungkuk Life Insurance in the 1st round of the 2005-06 season. She also swept all personal records upon her professional debut, including Rookie of the Year, regular league MVP, and championship MVP. She, who advanced to overseas leagues after the 2008-09 season, returned to her V-League after 11 years in the 2020-21 season. At the time, she was called ‘Oh Woo Heung (the winner is Heungkuk Life Insurance anyway)’, but at the end of the season, the twin sister incident broke out and she only finished runner-up.
Kim Yeon-kyung put an end to her overseas career after playing in the Chinese League last season, and she returned to Korea. That’s why she desperately wants to win the V-League more than anyone else. However, she couldn’t easily bring out the word ‘winning’ even for ‘Volleyball Empress’. At the V-League Women’s Media Day in October last year, she said, “It takes a lot of steps to go from 6th to 1st. I don’t think it will be easy.” answered politely. Winning was not an easy goal. 슬롯사이트
On the other hand, the victory that day was an important victory that reduced the long-awaited 1st place to zero, but she, Kim Yeon-kyung, showed consideration for her opponents rather than being happy. During the 25-26 deuce close match in the second set, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Libero Kim Yeon-gyeon injured her right foot and fell down while digging an attack on Heungkuk Life Insurance. The game was not stopped because it was in play, and Kim Yeon-kyung finished the set with a spike. This goal by Kim Yeon-kyung was the watershed of the game that day.
Hyundai E&C, which lost its starting pitcher Kim Yeon-gyeon as the libero, gave away the third set without power and lost with a set score of 0-3 (21-25, 25-27, 15-25). Kim Yeon-kyung, who led the victory by scoring 22 points (attack success rate 38.89%), the most for both teams, was not happy, but rather showed concern for the injured Kim Yeon-gyeon and a ‘partnership spirit’ that kept her courtesy towards the opposing team.
Although he is a player on the opposing team, as a colleague sweating together on the court, injuries are not uncommon. ‘Volleyball Empress’ did not want everyone to get hurt, so she put her colleagues’ worries before the joy of victory.