Jinan Yonhap News, Korea All-Star Awarded MVP
In the Women’s Professional Basketball (WKBL) All-Star Game, which was played against Korea and Japan for the first time in history, the Korean All-Stars won a landslide victory over the Japanese All-Stars.
The Korean All-Stars, led by BNK coach Park Jeong-eun, defeated the Japanese W-League All-Stars 90-67 at the 2024-25 season Women’s Professional Basketball All-Star Festival held at Bucheon Gymnasium on the 22nd. This is the first time that Korean and Japanese league players faced each other in the main game of the All-Star Game.
As the saying goes, the Korea-Japan match is a game that you can never lose even if it is rock, paper, scissors. But this day was different. As befits the name of the event, ‘Festival’, it was a ‘place of harmony’ where Korean and Japanese players smiled on the court throughout the game. Players from both teams heated up the atmosphere by dancing to the song before the game started, and then showed a celebration with humorous expressions after scoring. In the second quarter, there was also a ‘surprise event’ in which Park Hye-jin (BNK) and Kim Dan-bi (Woori Bank) switched uniforms with a Japanese player and attacked against Korea.
The All-Star Game between Korea and Japan was a basketball festival for fans. Yonhap News
In the third quarter, coach Park Jeong-eun, the head coach of the Korean All-Stars, Woori Bank coach Wi Sang-woo, Samsung Life Insurance coach Ha Sang-yoon, and coach Vladimir Vuksanovic (Denso), who leads the Japanese All-Stars, ran on the court and caught everyone’s attention. Coach Park Jeong-eun showed off his shooting sense from his active days by hitting a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 60-39 in the middle of the third quarter, and coach Wi Sang-woo made the score 62-39 with an under-the-goal shot and received applause from fans. A WKBL official said, “In April of last year, WKBL’s rising star and Japan’s W-League All-Star met, and last May, six WKBL club representatives participated as guests in the Japan All-Star Game, so the two countries have continued to exchange, so it was more of a ‘game’ than a ‘game’.” “There was a ‘fun atmosphere,’” he explained.
The Most Valuable Player (MVP, prize money of 2 million won) was also selected from each team. In Korea, Hana Bank’s center Jinan, who had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, was named MVP with 46 out of 71 votes from the press. From the moment Jinan appeared that day, he wore a long hair wig and danced along to the dance of the idol group Aespa. In the third quarter, he performed a one-man show, cheering with cheerleaders, and won the Best Performance Award (1 million won in prize money). Jinan (Taiwanese name Xu Xiaotong) from Taiwan is a naturalized athlete who transferred to Suwon Girls’ High School at the age of 15. At the time, Suwon Girls’ High School coach Jin Byeong-jun’s last name was added to the last name An (安), which his mother had given him, meaning “I will always live in peace in Korea,” and he was given a new name, “Jinan.”
Jinan reproduces Espa’s dance. News 1
Jinan said, “I was greedy for the Performance Award, but I wasn’t expecting the MVP, so I was very surprised to hear about the award. I worked hard out of a sense of duty to show my fans a happy side.” He continued with a laugh, saying, “Dancing with the cheerleaders while wearing a wig was spontaneous. I was itching to show off my talent.” In the Japan All-Star, Miyu Okamoto (Toyota, 38 votes), who scored the most points in the team with 11 points, received MVP. Okamoto said, “There was no pressure from the Korea-Japan match. I thought it was a festival and enjoyed it.” Korea also won both the 3-point shot contest and the skill challenge match, which were held as team competitions after halftime and the third quarter.
Reporter Pi Joo-young akapj@joongang.co.kr
2024-12-22 07:53:00