The lonely way back home after losing all five preliminary rounds
“Fate of the national team.” At the request of coach Jung Geunwoo
I met Ryu Hyun-jin at Toronto Airport and laughed
The South Korean women’s national baseball team, led by head coach Yang Sang-moon, lost 0-10, in the fifth cold game against Canada in the final match of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women’s Baseball World Cup A group qualifying round in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, on the 14th. The national team, which lost all five matches in the preliminary round, failed to advance to the final round.
The women’s national team, consisting of amateur baseball enthusiasts, including housewives and students, was set to return home on the 15th. There were no direct flights to Korea in Thunder Bay, so I came to Toronto and was waiting for a return flight to transfer. At that time, an unexpected guest came to the players. It was “Korean Monster” Ryu Hyun-jin (36), who plays for Toronto in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB).
Despite fatigue from the game the previous evening, Ryu Hyun-jin took his wife Bae Ji-hyun and his daughter to the airport where the national team was waiting to transfer. Ryu Hyun-jin’s visit to the airport was made at the request of Jeong Geun-woo (41), the head coach of the women’s baseball team. Ryu Hyun-jin has maintained his friendship with Jung Geun-woo by playing with the Taegeuk mark at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won the gold medal with all nine wins, and the second World Baseball Classic (WBC) in 2009, where he finished second.
Coach Chung said, “I am so grateful to (Ryu) Hyun-jin for visiting to support the players. “It became a ‘surprise gift’ for our players,” he said. 스포츠토토티비