South Korean athletes dream of bigger playgrounds |
Entertainers are not the only ones in South Korea looking to make a big splash abroad. The fever is now spreading rapidly to sports.
South Korean athletes know they can make more money and larger-than-life fame by putting themselves in more competitive games. The sports, in which some Koreans excel, include baseball, soccer, golf, basketball and even barely noticed handball.
"As witnessed in the World Baseball Classics, there is much interest abroad in Korean athletes," Won Jong-hyun, an executive director of Sego Entertainment, a Seoul-based talent agency eager to extend its business to sports.
Inspired by the successful 1994 debut of the first Korean major leaguer, Park Chan-ho, other fellow baseball players have since debuted in the U.S. Kim Byung-hyun became the first Korean to make it to the World Series in 2001 when he was an Arizona Diamondbacks' closer.
Other prominent South Korean major leaguers include Seo Jae-ung of Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Choo Shin-soo of Cleveland Indians. A number of lesser-known Koreans are horning their skills in the minor league for a jump into the Major League.
Lee Seung-yeop, a proven slugger from the Korea Baseball League's Samsung Lions, is having a field day in Japan. Now with the popular club Yomiuri Giants, Lee belted three spectacular home-runs to lead his team's back-to-back wins over Hanshin Tigers in Tokyo on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were his 400th, 401st and 402nd career homer.
Lee, 30, is now setting his eyes on the Major League.
South Korea's fairy-tale advance into the semi-finals in the 2002 soccer World Cup helped many of its talented players move to European clubs. They include Park Ji-sung of Manchester United, Lee Young-pyo of Tottenham Hotspurs and Seol Ki-hyon of Reading FC in the English Premiership and Cha Du-ri of Germany's Mainz 05.
After this year's World Cup in Germany, Kim Dong-jin and Lee Ho signed up with Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg. Lee Eul-yong was the third South Korean player to come back home after joining a foreign club, following Lee Chun-soo and Song Jong-gook.
Golf is a jewel sport for many Koreans, especially women. Drawn by Pak Se-ri's shining 1998 U.S. debut, more than 30 South Korean female golfers are now competing on the LPGA Tour this year.
Nine of the 19 LPGA winners so far this year are Koreans. They include Kim Mi-hyun, Jang Jeong, Pak Se-ri, Han Hee-won and Lee Mi-na.
Korean men are less prominent on the global golf scene. K.J. Choi and Kevin Na are the only Koreans on the PGA Tour. By placing ninth in last week's U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, Choi has just hit the US$10 million mark in money earnings since he joined the PGA seven years ago.
Ha Seung-jin, the first Korean player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), has recently been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. The 223-centimeter center was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2004 in the second round of the NBA draft.
A former National Basketball Development League (NBDL) player, Bang Sung-yoon, is now back in South Korea after playing a season for the Roanoke Dazzle.
The 1980's handball star Kang Jae-won, who once played in Switzerland, has been helping South Korean handball players join foreign clubs. Goalkeepers Han Kyoung-tai and Lee Seok-hyung, left-handed attacker Cho Chi-hyo and left-rear receiver Hwangbo Sung-il are among those who have debuted with Swiss clubs. Baek Won-chul was selected as MVP of the Japanese Handball League in March.
Experts warn, however, that not everyone can succeed.
"Witnessing Se-ri's success, many other golfers went after a position in the U.S. LPGA. However, nobody can be guaranteed for the success," Lee Sung-hwan, the head of SEMA Sports, a sports marketing agency, said.
"It is most desirable if one can first prove oneself capable on the home turf and then move onto the larger field. Lee Seung-yeop, the slugger of the Yomiuri Giants in the Japanese league, is the ideal case," he said.
Kim Jae-pak, who has recently been selected to manage the national baseball team for this year's Asian Games in Doha, agreed, saying that it's advisable for athletes to prove their ability at home before going abroad.
"I am not convinced that minor leaguers are more capable than players back here in Korea," he said.
Sports experts say that they feel a dilemma when they want to encourage athletes to go abroad at the same time they have to find ways to reactivate the dull domestic sports.
"When a great pitcher is scouted by an acclaimed American baseball team, it could drive away the baseball fans from the Korean league," professional baseball commentator Koo Kyung-baik said.
Many Korean sports fans have a different view.
"If each of them gets trained tougher and comes back home, it will be good for all. It can boost the standard of the Korean sports higher," said Park Chang-seok, a 27-year-old baseball fan.
Seoul, Aug. 3 (Yonhap News)
