Yunji Kim MVP of the 44th National Sports Festival for the Disabled… Winter MVP wins

<img alt="Yunji Kim won the MVP award by winning 5 swimming gold medals at the 44th National Sports Festival for the Disabled. Photo: Korea Sports Association for the Disabled” src=”https://news.koreadaily.com/data/photo/2024/10/31/a3de57ed-a56f-41c6-9905-d3adb444dbe3.jpg”/>

The 44th National Sports Festival for the Disabled, held in Gyeongsangnam-do, concluded six days of competition. The best athlete award went to swimming Kim Yun-ji (18).

Kim Jeong-jun (46, Daegu) and Yoo Soo-young (22, Jeonnam) met again in the badminton men’s singles (sports grade WH2) final held on the 30th, the last day of the competition. The two players also met in the bronze medal match at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, and Kim Jeong-jun won.

In the match that was held again after two months, Sooyoung Yoo won with a set score of 2-0 and won the gold medal. Sooyoung Yoo said, “I did more personal training after losing in the bronze medal match at the Paris Paralympic Games, and it was rewarding to be able to win again today. I will continue to focus on training with the goal of the upcoming 2026 Asian Para Games and the 2028 Paralympic Games.”

In the men’s wheelchair basketball final held at Samcheonpo Gymnasium in Gyeongnam, Jeju and Coway, representing Seoul, clashed. The two teams faced each other 55-55 with 1 minute and 50 seconds left in the game. Seoul won 59-56 with consecutive goals from Kim Ho-yong and Oh Dong-seok.

The closing ceremony held at the Gimhae Indoor Gymnasium on the 30th was attended by Jeong Jin-wan, Chairman of the Korea Sports Association for the Disabled, Gyeongsangnam-do Governor Park Wan-soo, Gimhae City Vice Mayor An Kyung-won, Busan Metropolitan City Executive Governor Lee Jun-seung, and about 500 Gyeongnam residents. The overall winner was Gyeonggi-do (248,090.88 points), second place was Seoul (214,075.94 points), and third place was host Gyeongnam (157,648.19 points). Gyeonggi-do won the overall championship for the fourth time in a row.

Chairman Jeong Jin-wan said, “This competition is coming to an end, but your challenge begins again. We will do our best to support the Korea Sports Association for the Disabled so that you can continue to move toward a higher goal by devoting yourself to training and training like now.” .

The MVP went to Kim Yun-ji, who won five gold medals and one silver medal in this competition. Kim Yun-ji, who competes in skiing in the winter and swimming in the summer, swept the rookie athlete award in the summer and winter competitions for the first time in history at the 2022 competition. Yunji Kim, who was named MVP of last year’s Winter Sports Games, also won MVP of this summer’s competition, becoming the first player in history to win the Winter Sports Rookie of the Year Award and MVP. Kim Yun-ji said, “I really didn’t expect to receive the Best Player Award. It’s a great honor and I will continue to train hard to become a great player.”

The Rookie Athlete Award went to track and field Kim Cho-rong (23, North Chungcheong Province). Kim Cho-rong only won three silver medals in the last competition, but won three gold medals in this competition. Although he participated in many sports, he fell in love with sprinting and is considered a promising player for the national team. Kim Chorong set a goal to compete in the 2028 LA Paralympic Games by reducing her 100m record to 11.90 seconds.

Kim Hyo-kyung ([email protected])