Naturalized basketball player Ra Gun-ah writes SNS post in Korean

Ra Gun-ah, professional basketball player who became a naturalized citizen of Korea in 2018, showed off his Korean writing skills on his social network for the first time. The American-born basketball player for Jeonju KCC Egis, who joined the South Korean men’s national basketball team training on Tuesday to participate in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in June, uploaded a picture of him and other players in the national team on his social media with a caption “I’d like my new nickname to be ‘captain’ Gun-ah” in Korean. A friend of him wrote a comment, “Who wrote this?” and he immediately replied, also in Korean, “Me.” One fan of him sent a message of support, saying, “I’m touched by your caption in Korean.”

The captain of the South Korean national basketball team, led by new head coach Cho Sang-hyun, is Lee Dae-sung of Orion Orions. It appears Ra, who is close to Lee, wants to help Lee lead the team as a subcaptain. With a group of young blood, including Lee Hyun-jung, who is playing for the Davidson Wildcats of the NCAA Division 1, Ha Yoon-ki of Korea University, and Yeo Jun-seok of Yongsan High School joining the national team, Ra is the oldest player in the team. After seeing the captain buying coffee for younger players, Ra is doing the same every day. Jeon Sung-hyun, who played a leading role in Anyang KGC’s championship title, posted a photo of coffee Ra bought him on his social media, saying, “Thank you, Gun-ah.”

Since his debut in the Korea Basketball League in the 2012-2013 season, Ra has recorded an average of 19 points and 10.9 rebounds for the past nine seasons. After helping his team clinch the regular season title and second place in the championship, Ra renewed his contract on May 14 to play for KCC for three more years. Last year, he suffered from racists slurs on social network but said his love for Korea remains unchanged.


Jae-Yeong Yoo elegant@donga.com