Let`s See Who Is Champion on Sand Field

Nowadays, the world of Seerum, Korea’s answer to Japanese Sumo, is heavily divided among players.

In the early days of the pro Seerum, several main heroes of Seerum, such as Lee Man-ki, Lee Chun-hee, Lee Bong-gul and Kang Ho-dong, dominated the sport, which is performed on a round field of sand. But, in recent days, no athlete has emerged as a powerful figure on the sand field. The championship goes to one player this time, and to another next time, and to yet another in the following game. Simply put, it is an "age of storm. "

For 4 days from Oct. 16th, 2002 Serajem Cup Andong Serum Contest is to be held in Andong. This will be the last regional contest in this season, in which all of the star athletes will struggle with each other for the championship.

So far this year, 4 athletes such as Lee Tae-hyun (26, Hyundai Heavy Equipment Co.), Hwang Gyu-yon (27, Shinchang Construction), Kim Young-hyun (26, LG Securities) and Shin Bong-min (28, Hyundai Heavy Equipment) have taken turns each other in winning championships. Lee is the champion of Yongin, Hwang is of Iksan, Shin is of Wonjoo, and Kim is of Kangjin and Suhsan.

In the upcoming match, it is expected that the championship would go to one of them. Goliath Kim is honing up his determination for the game. Kim, whose statue reaches up to 217 cm and weight 156 kg, used to win the games with the skill of pushing, capitalizing on his physical advantages. But, recently, he has acquired several skills such as the skill of lifting and rotating. With these skills, Kim believes, he could make up for the shameful loss in the round of 16 at the Wonjoo Championship. Also determined to win are all the other athletes like Lee, whose nickname is the "King on the Sand Field, " Master of Skills Hwang and Man of Persistence Shin. There are some snipers who could shoot down these giants like Back Seung-il (26, LG Securities) and Yum Won-jun (26, LG Securities) who has demonstrated good performance this year.

In the meanwhile, in the second heaviest category (i.e. Hanrah), Kim Yong-dae (26, Hyundai Heavy Equipment) looks most promising. He has won the Suhsan championship and Wonjoo championship so far. But his monopoly is being challenged by Master of Mutant Skills Mo Jae-wook (27, LG Securities) and Kim Sun-chang (31, Shinchang Construction).

The Andong Contest starts on Oct. 16th. On 17th, Backdoo Championship (i.e. the heaviest category) will be held, on 18th Hanrah, on 19th Andong Championship.

stt77@donga.com