World Championship-winning U-18 women’s handball, ‘Golden Haunting’ with trophy
Input 2022.08.13 (14:11)
yunhap news
The Korean Under-18 (U-18) national team, the first non-European country to win the World Youth Women’s Handball Championship, returned to Korea on the 13th.
The U-18 Women’s Handball Team, led by coach Jin-soon Kim (Incheon Business High School), won the World Youth Women’s Handball Championships final in Skopje, North Macedonia on the 11th, beating Denmark 31-28 and winning the championship.
On this day, the team returned from Incheon International Airport, captain Kim Song-won (Incheon Business High School) and Kim Min-seo (Hwangjijeongsan High School), who was selected as the MVP of the tournament, entered the arrival hall with the championship trophy.
The officials of the Korea Handball Association, the players’ families and acquaintances, who were waiting for the team, greeted the ‘improvement generals’ with strong applause.
In this tournament, Korea played an extraordinary event in climbing to the top by winning eight consecutive victories against a European country called the ‘home of handball’.
The International Handball Federation (IHF) evaluated the driving force behind Korea’s victory through an article on its website, saying, “Korea was an outsider before the opening ceremony.”
Due to the gust of wind in Korea, European handball fans as well as players from other countries participating in the tournament shouted ‘Korea’ from the stands and waved the Taegeukgi.
Korea exclaimed the pain of losing to Denmark in the 2006 final, the first tournament, and raised the pride of ‘Korean handball’ as the only non-European country to have achieved more than the semifinals in this tournament.
In addition to being runners-up in 2006, Korea took third place in the previous two tournaments in 2016 and 2018.
In an interview after returning home, coach Kim Jin-soon said, “When I left the country, rather than winning, I was thinking of bringing a medal of any color in my hand. I am so happy and proud of it,” he said.
MVP Kim Min-seo of the tournament also rejoiced, saying, “As I continued to beat the strong team, I became more motivated to do better.
[사진 출처 : 연합뉴스]
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