Daegu City Hall Still Favorite in 2004~2005 Handball Feast

"Soon-young left and Cha-yeon is absent ….”

Coach Lee Jae-young of Daegu City Hall, which is the strongest women`s handball team, commented prior to the Jack Field 2004~2005 Handball Feast opening match against Changwon’s cycle racing team, "Our goal is to make it to the semifinals," as he spared himself from making further commitments.

Daegu City Hall reigned in this year’s and last year’s national athletic competition, but as the pivot player Huh Soon-young, recognized as a worldwide athlete, made a current contract with the Japanese industrial team, Omron, and another pivot player Kim Cha-yeon is getting her third month of treatment on her fractured left toe, the team`s strength seemed to have subsided.

However, as the inside facts revealed, Daegu City Hall still held strong with national team member Jang So-hee (26) and next-generation star Song He-rim (19). Jang So-hee, whose original position is the wing, covered the pivot role in the second half and the pair collaborated together for 12 goals, each with six goals, as the team edged Changwon 27-21.

Jang So-hee commented after the match," With the absence of Soon-young, I assumed the responsibility would be on the veteran and conducted an individual training," and added,” I`m glad we won even though we lacked our three starters."

In the following men`s category (industrial division) match, Chungcheong Hana Bank defeated Doosan Liquors 21-20.

As this year greets the 16th anniversary of the Handball Feast, the scale of participants has increased compared to last year (13 teams) with 11 teams in men`s division and seven for women’s division. Starting from the opening match, the hot contest will last until January 17, making a tour including Samcheok, Gangwon, Andong Gyeongbuk, and Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi.

This year’s handball feast, with newly introduced night matches for businessmen, will sort out the winners as the men’s division will play separately, divided into the industrial team and the college team, and the women’s category will be playing a full league in the first competition with the second competition as a group league tournament in which two groups are formed in each division. The winners from each group will face the runner-ups in the counter groups via a cross tournament, and the final two teams will battle in a 3-game series to find the overall champions.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com