 Jung Su-young, center, leads the South Korean men’s handball team in scoring in the Beijing Olympic tournament. / Korea Times File |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
The South Korean women's handball players are getting all the love, but their male counterparts are out to prove they have game, too.
The men's team is set for a dual with Spain in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics Wednesday after finishing first with a 3-2 record in Group B amid quiet fanfare.
Coach Kim Tae-hoon's side has yet to come close to matching the popularity of the women's team, which had a movie glorifying its 2004 heroics in Athens become a box-office hit and a local television station hire celebrities as guest announcers to call its games in Beijing.
Kim's team can undoubtedly earn more respect by defeating its European foes and making it to the semifinals, moving closer to achieving its ambitions for a spot on the podium.
Defeating Spain would literally be a historical feat. The Koreans have played the Spaniards eight times so far in Olympic tournaments and World Championships since 1984, but have yet to register their first win.
The two teams last met in the Athens Games, where Spain crushed Korea 31-24 to finish seventh in the tournament.
And it's not like Spain's current squad is rated lesser than its previous ones. Spain squeezed into the knockout phase by finishing fourth in Group A, but was forced to survive a much tougher group to join contenders like France, Poland and Croatia in the top eight.
``Spain is a team of veteran savvy and great cohesion, but they don't score a lot from long shots,'' said Kim, who picked Carlos Prieto, a towering 2.04-meter pivot who is an integral part of the Spanish attack, as his top concern.
``We need to prevent them from using their size against us and scoring near the paint with their pivot players,'' Kim said. ``If we can do that, and I think we could, we will be giving ourselves a chance to win.
``Korea is currently 0-8 against Spain, but nobody loses forever. I think we are capable of beating them.''
Kim's game plan is based on a stingy defense and high-percentage shots on counterattacks, and looks to avoid a slow-tempo grinder against the bigger Spanish players.
Kim believes his team has a significant advantage in pace and stamina, epitomized by a swift attack led by Jung Su-young and Park Won-chul, while longtime Bundesliga veteran Yoon Kyung-shin will be accounted for anchoring the defense, including checking Prieto in the danger area.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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