Invite the barren baseball team to provide meaningful memories
Yang Seo-jin (17), an outfielder of the Korean national baseball team, and Kim Jin-sun (18), an outfielder of the Kia Tigers, couldn’t hide their joy. They saw their role model, Kim Do-young, Na Sung-bum, Yang Hyeon-jong, and Jeong Hae-young, and took a photo together.
The Kia Tigers, the winner of the 2024 KBO League regular season, invited a meaningful guest on Sunday. It is an invitation to invite the Korean women’s national baseball team to the Gwangju-Kia Champions Field as a group.
The game was canceled due to rain, but KIA did its best by preparing a group seat for the women’s baseball team and presenting 240 KBO official balls.
The women’s baseball team, excited since they heard the news of KIA’s invitation, was invited on the same day and headed to Champions Field wearing the national team uniform.
KIA invited the women’s baseball team because KIA general manager Shim Jae-hak listened to the training environment for the “barren” women’s baseball team and found a way to help it.
Shim often said that the development of the women’s baseball team is the ultimate development of Korean baseball, and he has been devising a number of measures, including renting a Hampyeong stadium in KIA’s second division and donating official balls, in hopes that the national team will train in a better environment.
And finally, the women’s baseball team was invited to the first game at home after KIA won the regular season on the 17th.
As the most popular baseball team in Korea, KIA is also the most popular baseball team in the national team. Before playing for the women’s national baseball team, KIA fans practiced batting by watching KIA infielder Kim Do-young’s home run video, and have followed the form while watching KIA pitcher Yang Hyun-jong’s pitch.
Players who saw their role models in person were very happy. Na Sung-bum, Kim Do-yeong and Jeong Hae-yeong readily complied with the players’ offensives for autographs and photos.
Led by former Lotte and SK catcher Huh Il-sang, the women’s baseball team will participate in the 2025 Asian Cup (BFA) of the Korean women’s baseball league. If the team ranks among the top four players, it will be able to win a ticket to the world championship.
“I’ve never seen players so happy,” Korean national team captain Joo Eun-jung said. “I’d like to thank the Kia team for their invitation. We will change our medal color next year thanks to the championship spirit of Kia, a prestigious team.”
Korean national team shortstop Park Ju-ah said, “Now I can train with a good official ball. Thank you for giving me this official ball as a gift. I will train hard with this official ball to produce good results at the Asian Cup.” 메이저사이트
The game was canceled due to rain on the day, but Kia invited the national team again on Tuesday. The decision was made in consideration of the players’ regret over the cancellation of the game.
Earlier, Kia donated its official ball to Kyoto International High School, a Korean national junior high school in Japan. With Kia’s support, Kyoto International High School wrote a monumental history by winning the 96th Japan National High School Championship (Summer Koshien) on June 23.