Posts by Moebius

    Lee Dayeong is going to play in Greece.

    Unsurprisingly, this is already controversial issue in Korea. It looks like Heungkuk and KOVO were not expecting this.


    Papago machine translation:

    Quote

    However, Heungkuk Life Insurance claimed, "Lee Da-young belongs to Heungkuk Life Insurance until June 30, and cannot arbitrarily pursue a transfer overseas because the three-year FA contract signed last year is valid."
    The Korea Volleyball Association also said, "It is difficult to issue an ITC (International Transfer Agreement) to players who have caused great social controversy."


    Source: https://n.news.naver.com/sport…ll/article/023/0003619627

    Don’t blame the players, blame KOVO officials for their greed and lack of foresight.


    Like econmtl wrote in one of his excellent posts, Korean Volleyball is in decline, the difference between the starting players and substitutes is enormous, in situation like this extensive preparations are essential.


    They could have shortened V-League for let’s say 2 months and give KYK (it’s her last Olympic Games for heaven’s sake!) and other players ample time for recovery and preparation. But no, they only want money.


    No wonder that players look exhausted and some of them are injured. KYK (33 years old) played 41 games last year in Korea, it’s only natural for her have some difficulties during VNL.


    PS. I really like Lee So-young performance. I’ve noticed some tapes on her thigh during the match vs Italy. I hope she’s well.

    Poor Anna, really. Continued playing with a pained waist till she broke down 😭


    I'd rather IBK not get into playoffs if they keep using Anna like that. As what the commentators said, it's a one-man show.


    When will the coach be sacked?

    Yeah, it's painful to watch. Anna does all the work by herself, I hope she's not seriously injured.


    I'm also not a Kim Woo-jae fan. Didn't Lazareva asked him for some rest during post-match interview? Well, rotating players is obviously not his style.

    LDY and LJY are social darlings

    Yes, LDY and LJY are part-time athletes, part-time idols. That's another factor why everyone is so angry, they simply feel betrayed.

    Dispute with KYK - as if the bullying wasn't enough, the fact that the twins had a dispute with one of the biggest athletes in Korean history, KYK, just adds fuel to the fire.

    Yes, KYK is important part of this whole case. As others already mentioned, the victim posted her story after reading LDY accusations against KYK. Majority thinks that LDY tried to manipulate people using her SNS and set them against Kim (national hero). Ultimately Lee was unmasked, not only as a hypocrite but a violent perpetrator. It feels like poetic justice for some people. It is captivating narrative but whether it's true or not we just don't know. Lee sisters are all alone now, there are no voices of support from volleyball community. Sadly, KYK was probably the only person in Korean Volleyball that could help them in such hard times.


    If you want to monitor current situation, look here (bullying scandal) and here (KYK-LDJ conflict). This is namuwiki sort of Korean wikipedia. They definitely do like footnotes and do a lot of additional detective work.

    Lee Jae-yeong and Lee Da-yeong sudden fall from grace is extraordinary and a little scary. Streaming networks removed episodes of various TV shows featuring the twins, KIA also pulled down the car commercial.

    Essentialy, LDY and LJY are canceled in Korea.


    Public opinion is so outraged because the details provided by the victim are so horrifying. What they did is very disturbing and creepy. It could easily scar the victim for the rest of his life (It's a sensitive issue so I'll not post details here).


    I have mixed feelings about this, after all this happened a long time ago. Still, even when you're just a stupid teenager the are some lines that should never be crossed.


    There's a growing pressure on KOVO and Heungkuk to severely discipline the sisters. Some sort of punishment seems imminent, I'm pretty sure they'll be suspended from national team.

    I wasn't expecting Do Su-bin to play so well. Her performance is absolutely fantastic, she's leading in three categories - defense, digs and reception (player ranking).

    Unfortunately, Heungkuk's Lucia Fresco is not playing well. Last season she wasn't major contributor either but there were some difficulties - namely her surgery and very difficult schedule. This time, there's no such excuse, she really needs to deliver in the next two games.


    I haven't watched any games in the other group but I'm glad that KGC is doing well. Go Ui-jeong (고의정) plays as an Outside Hitter now? Good for her.

    Lee Da-yeong is already doing a good job with Middle Blockers, I also liked Do Su-bin performance today. Obviously KYK is still recovering.

    Kim Mi-youn is Heungkuk captain for this year, really unexpected choice, at least for me.


    KGC-GS 3-2. What happened there? Jung Ho-young 12 points, really nice.

    Yes, she's cute.

    Current IBK squad reminds me a little of Heungkuk 2016-2017 - very likable team. Cho Song-hwa, Kim Su-ji, Shin Yeon-gyeong and Han Ji-hyun they're all ex-Spiders.

    This season won't be easy thought. Last year's was IBK worst since it's foundation, they'll be desperate to improve. Club didn't strengthen Outside Hitter position off-season, so they'll rely heavily on Lazareva.

    It's disturbing to read about these accusations. Very recently in South Korea there was this high-profile case concerning Choi Suk-hyeon, triathlete who also committed suicide (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53263178).


    I hope that Go case will be examined, there's no place for bullying culture in sports.

    Additionally I think it's time for KOVO to change some of it's inept regulations. It seems that powerful clubs hold too much power over young and inexperienced players.


    Fortunately, there are (finally) some volleyball matches really soon. I look forward to it, Heungkuk looks unstoppable this year.

    Media report from press conference.

    Good article here. Some info might be lost in translation - native Korean speakers urgently needed.


    Hyundai E&C persuaded Go Yoo-min to sign a special agreement. She agreed to terminate her contract and give up five months of her salary. In return, the club promised her trade. There was also special clause - she could not disclose any details of this agreement with other parties.


    Trade didn't happen. Club didn't honor the agreement or they did try but without much interest - clearly there was some miscommunication between them and KOVO. In the effect she was officialy deregistered from Korean League.


    In the future she could only resume her career in Hyundai, where she was obviously not needed, club already gave her number (7) to a new player.


    She ended up with a sense of betrayal - without payment and chance to continue her career in other place. She also couldn't express her feelings, she signed confidentiality agreement after all.


    It's horrible.


    Her family decided to file a lawsuit against Hyundai E&C owner. Charges? Alleged violation of Labor's Standards Act. Source.

    That make sense. Really horrible. Is this really what volleyball world is? On the picture or videos they are happy and supportive each other but when there is no camera the bullying and competition and everything is coming out.

    Modern Korea in general is well known for it’s ferocious competitiveness and stressful work environment – they also struggle with suicide. S. Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries (source https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/suicide-rates.htm).

    It is all so depressing, she was such a talented player.

    102581016.1.jpg


    Shortly after her tragic death, bereaved family released parts of Go Yoo-min’s diary – where she described her sad feelings caused by emotional abuse from Hyundai coaching staff (source). Later, her mother mentioned Lee Do-hee specifically as a person who administered this, and claimed that Hyundai E&C horrible treatment of her daughter was the direct reason she committed suicide.


    l_2020082001002241100177141.jpg

    Her mother started a petition to open an official investigation. It was signed by thousands of Koreans.

    Yesterday (source 1, 2, 3), she gave an emotional statement accompanied by lawyer and government official. Some other troubling facts were revealed in the meantime:


    In her case “voluntary withdrawal” is simply not true. She was fired without proper contract release fee and without a chance to continue her career in other club (it’s mind-boggling how this system works in Korea). Hyundai rejects this claim. It's an complicated issue, more info in this article.


    Hyundai claims that they had conducted an internal investigation and everything seems to be in order.


    Many Korean fans are really upset , they want Hyundai coach Lee Do-hee to step down.


    Additional sources: 1, 2, 3


    Edit: fixed links

    Edit 2: I've deleted line about toxic relations among players. This issue wasn't raised during press conference. It's better to wait for proper official inquiry.

    Yes, you are correct.


    Overall there is no champion but I still wonder if Hyundai is the regular season winner since they did ranked all the teams.

    Yes, the wording was ambiguous.

    The way I see it, there's no regular season winner, the competition was cancelled. KOVO ranked teams after 5 rounds in order to pay them proper share and prepare ground for the upcoming rookie draft and tryout (It's highly unlikely that this event will take place on schedule, Prague is in a state of emergency).


    Hyundai will now face certain post season disadvantages (in salary cap, draft and tryout) without any real prize. Source


    Update:

    For what it's worth, this article states that "Hyundai is the top team in regular season, but not regular season winner".

    Previously, you mentioned last Asian Championship semifinal, I had very similar impression. Especially since many of Taiwanese players are in fact under 23 and are lead by a Japanese coach. Today they really gave Korea a scare, but ultimately lacked consistency in later sets. It is a promising team.


    About Yang Hyo-jin zone three open attack against Thailand. Actually, it strikes me as weird. Is sharing your plan for the match during the interview a good idea?


    And you're absolutely right. Kim Young-koung is almost always doing well when she's most needed, her dedication to National Team is quite impressive. We'll just have to hope for the best.

    I'm really worried about the final outcome. Some people are still not giving Thailand enough credit.


    In the last four years Thailand won arguably every significant game against Korea. In 2017 - semifinal at Asian Championship. In 2018 - semifinal at prestigious Asian Games and shortly after another game in World Championship. I've recently looked at some of these games and was reminded how difficult Thailand serve is to Koreans. In general, it is the host team who has an edge on serve and tomorrow it might be a crucial factor.


    Additionally Thailand thoroughly prepared for this one game since August. On Korean side jet lagged Lavarini reunited with his players on December 28th and had only one week to make things work. These injury reports are worrisome. I don't think they can win this game without Kim Young-koung. She'll probably play anyway, but in this condition she needs her teammates help more than ever.


    Despite all this, I think Korean team is constantly growing under Lavarini's command. Lee Da-yeong is a fine example, she improved a lot during last year. Also Lavarini is a clever coach, I'm pretty sure tactically Korean's will be well prepared for this game. Besides, Thais also must deal with enormous pressure, match against Korea will be their first game against top team since August. This is a long time, meanwhile Koreans competed in World Cup and in Kovo League.


    I would like to see both teams in Tokyo Olympics, It saddens me that it's not possible at this point.

    Best scorers so far: 1. Lutz (GS) 95 points, Anae (IBK) 73 points, Atkinson (Hi-Pass) 72 points.

    From my point of view, Kovo Cup was much more fun without the foreign players, we've got enough of them during the regular season.

    With Hwang Youn-joo on bench, Korean Opposites are going extinct. I wonder where Kim Hee-jin will end up with new coach on board. With this lineup she'll probably play as an MB again.