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Park Ji-hyun hailed as a rising star in women’s basketball

Park Ji-hyun hailed as a rising star in women’s basketball

Posted April. 14, 2018 09:58,   

Updated April. 14, 2018 09:58

한국어

South Korea’s Park Ji-hyun has jumped to stardom in women’s basketball by posting a triple double twice in this year’s spring season (31-points, 28-rebounds, 10-assists and 31-points, 21-rebounds, and 10 interceptions). With her “extraordinary” speed and skills, Park is being hailed as a guard that will lead the country’s women’s basketball in the future.

Thanks to her speed, Park has been second to none, sweeping four awards at the final round of the weekend league last year when she was a high school sophomore, namely the best player award, the best rebounder award, the best assist award and the best defense award. In this year’s spring season, she scored 29 points on average per game, becoming No. 1 in the number of rebounds (averaged 29 points).

Park also became the first South Korean female basketball player to attend the Basketball Without Borders (BWB) this year, the NBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program.

“Now I have a bigger dream after completing the program. The participants I played with were very excellent players from around the world, but I did not feel inferior to them,” said Park. “I want to become a player recognized by the world. There’s no harm in having a big dream. It’s good if I achieve it (by growing into a renowned player), and if not, I can make more efforts.”

Currently being trained by coach Lee Ho-geun at Soongeui Girls’ High School, former manager of Samsung Life Insurance who made a comeback last year after coaching in China, Park appears to be filled with confidence ahead of her debut as a professional player.


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com