Yonhap News Agency = There are three ‘2000s-born’ members of the South Korean women’s handball team competing in the Asian qualifying tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sept. 21.
They are center back Kim Min-seo, born in 2004 (Samcheok City Hall), center back Woo Bitna, born in 2001 (Seoul City Hall), and right back Jeong Ji-in, born in 2000 (Omron, Japan).
The only one of them to play in a different position, Jeong is known for his quick shooting from his 180-centimeter height.
Right backs are often called upon to pass and then shoot themselves. This is why it’s important to be able to shoot from a long distance. With a long arm and a surprise mid-range shot as his main weapon, Jeong is the next in line for the national team’s left back position.
“I haven’t shown a lot of cool mid-range shots yet,” said Jeong, who defined a satisfying mid-range shot as one where the goalkeeper can’t follow the ball at all, such as putting it in the corner of the goal.
A native of Busan who started playing handball in the fourth grade at Jasongcho Elementary School, Jung Ji-in has been a standout since her days at Busan Baekyang High School.
Already reaching her current height in middle school, she helped lead South Korea to its seventh straight title at the Asian Women’s Youth (U-17) Championship in August 2017. She then earned a spot on the senior national team, led by Kang Jae-won, and competed at the World Championships.
After attending the Korea Gymnastics University, Jeong was consistently called up to the national team. In her senior year, she helped the team win its sixth consecutive Asian Women’s Handball Championship in Anbang.
By the time she graduated from college, Jeong was ready for a challenge. Instead of going to the domestic unemployment stage, she went to the Japanese league.
In January of this year, she joined Omron, a Japanese team with ties to Kumamoto Prefecture, along with her college teammate Son Min-kyung. Omron is a prestigious team that finished second out of 11 teams in the 2022-2023 season.
As the only ‘Japanese rigger’ on the team, Jeong said, “Japan is in the same Asian region as (Korea), but they play a different style of handball. I wanted to learn and experience this style,” he said, adding, “I think I needed a change and a fresh challenge after living in Korea for so long.”
Jung’s role model is Ryu Eun-hee (33, Gyori, Hungary), a senior in the same position.
She wants to emulate everything about her, including her strength against foreign players and her explosive power that comes from her instantaneous speed.
“I’m not strong enough for my height,” said Jeong, who has a slimmer build than Ryu, “so I’m training hard with weights and eating a lot.”
In the Asian qualifier, which features five nations (South Korea, Japan, China, Kazakhstan and India) ranked in the full league, South Korea picked up two wins against India and China.
Jeong Ji-in scored seven goals against India, the second most on the team behind Shin Eun-joo (Incheon Metropolitan Government – nine), and made her presence felt with two goals against China.
The team now has games against Kazakhstan (Nov. 21) and Japan (Nov. 23).
A first-place finish in the qualifiers will secure a spot in the main stage of the Paris Olympics. It would be the first time in the history of handball for both men and women to qualify for 11 consecutive Olympic Games.
“I want to show that we are strong and have ‘bang’ in the remaining matches,” said Jeong, “and I will definitely show that kind of ceremony, full of confidence after scoring a goal.” 파워볼사이트