“My mother’s smiling face made me cry”
Ryu Joong-il, who achieved his fourth consecutive Asian Games victory. Hye-seong Kim played as a leadoff and opened the gates to her team’s attack. During the Super Round match against Japan (2-0), Kim Hye-sung scored 2 points and Noh Si-hwan scored 2 RBIs, helping the team win.
The infield defense also led with stability.
In particular, in the bottom of the 9th inning of the final against Chinese Taipei, he quickly dashed when a slow ground ball was hit toward second base, tagged the runner on second base, and threw it to first base to create a double play, confirming the win. It was a moment of joy created when even my colleagues thought, ‘A double play won’t work.’ Coach Ryu Joong-il, who selected him as “Batter MVP,” also praised him, saying, “He played well in the finals. He is the best infielder in the KBO League.”
Kim Hye-seong, whom we met in Hangzhou just before returning to Korea on the 8th, smiled sheepishly and said, “Even when I received the gold medal at the awards ceremony, I couldn’t really feel her. I was so excited last night that I couldn’t sleep.”
Immediately after the gold medal, numerous congratulations poured in. What she remembers most was of course her mother.
She said, “She had a video call with her mother. She thanked me for the congratulations, but she also said, ‘I’m glad you got a good grade. Mommy’s happy too.’ It made me feel good to see her smiling and really happy.”
Although she is only 24 years old, she was above mid-level for this team, which has an average age of 23. There are no seniors who take care of the atmosphere on their own. Although he has experience serving as captain for half a season at his training, the captaincy position, which involves a lot of things to worry about in addition to one’s own performance, is bound to be an even greater burden for the national team.
Still, maybe it’s because it’s a team made up of peers. The team atmosphere was not bad throughout the competition. In particular, right after the loss to Taiwan, the atmosphere was so uplifting that the team decided on the bus, “Let’s go to the finals and get revenge on Taiwan.” It was the power of leadership demonstrated by Kim Hye-seong and her older brothers. Kim Hye-seong smiled brightly, saying, “From Park Se-woong to my teammates, they did a great job. Thanks to that, I was able to claim comfortably.”
Winning a gold medal in the Asian Games is a big turning point for a baseball player. He will be able to focus solely on baseball without worrying about military service.
In particular, concerns disappear when expanding overseas. Kim Hye-seong can pursue overseas advancement through posting after the season ends next year.
He only responded with laughter to rumors of overseas expansion that had been raised several times before. Her quick feet, agile and solid defense, and clever hitting have already been proven. He is also recording excellent results in the KBO league this season with a batting average of .300, 3.5, 7 home runs, 55 RBI, and an OPS of 0.843.
At an age where he is still reaching the peak of his prime, he has accumulated experience not only in the regular season but also in the postseason and international competitions.
Here, even the burden of his military service was relieved. Ryu Joong-il’s captain with wings. Will he be able to soar to a higher place?