Jangchung Gymnasium turned into an English Premier League (EPL) stage. Manchester United goaltender Marcus Rashford felt the scent from Han Sung-jung (27, Woori Card, Seoul).
Han Sung-jung led the set score 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20) by scoring 13 points in the men’s home game of Dodram 2023-2024 V League against Suwon KEPCO at Jangchung Gymnasium in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 9th.
In his performance, Woori Card jumped to first place alone, beating Daejeon Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance. Despite the cold weather and weekdays, more than 3,000 fans who visited the stadium were happy with Woori Card’s victory.
Woori Card’s outside heater Han Sung-jung flew. He was responsible for only 13.27% of the team’s attacks, but his attack success rate reached 76.92%. The attack efficiency was also high at 61.54 percent.
After the match, Woori Card coach Shin Young-chul said, “Thank you for doing well in the first game of the second round,” expressing regret for Mattei Kok and Kim Ji-han, but complimented, “(Han) Sung-jung did quite well.”
Han Sung-jung was one of the most successful players. Han Sung-jung, who played flawless without errors on the day, said, “Woori Card tends to play volleyball without errors, but personally, I think there were mistakes in receiving,” adding, “What I was satisfied with was that the serve went in well without errors.”
Han Sung-jung, who received the first-round pick from Woori Card in the 2017-2018 rookie draft, left for Uijeongbu KB Insurance in a trade at the end of 2021. After showing rapid growth, he returned to his old team by trading ahead of this season.
However, the evaluation that serve is still a weakness followed Han Sung-jung. He vowed himself to reverse this assessment. He hit two serve aces on the day, and after scoring, he drew attention with an unusual ceremony.
He added joy by bringing one hand to his temple. Han Sung-jung said, “It’s played in overseas soccer, but I followed it because it means that I don’t care about the outside gaze,” adding, “Lashford of Manchester United and several soccer players did it.”
It was somewhat different from what Han Sung-jung knew. There was a lot of speculation in the local area about Rashford’s ceremony earlier this year. One of them was that it meant that he would not care about external criticism, as in the story of Han Sung-jung.
However, Rashford later said in person, “95% of football is related to mental strength. That’s all for me,” he said, explaining the meaning, “There are many players with excellent abilities, but it’s the mental strength that separates the difference.”
Although the details are somewhat different, the meaning is similar in a large framework in terms of “mental power” that it will not be swayed by any external evaluation.
Coincidentally, there are other similarities to Rashford. He grew up in a single-parent family when he was a child. Because of that experience, Rashford is engaged in various social contribution activities and is working especially hard to help poor children.
Han Sung-jung, who grew up without her mother under her father, who has physical limitations due to dwarfism, has emerged as a representative player in the league.
Rashford was pointed out for his clunkyness as a striker, but he has already become a key goaltender for Manchester United and the England national team by making up for what was already called weaknesses this season.
Han Sung-do, who inherited Rashford’s spirit, is once again preparing to fill his weaknesses and fly higher in his old team. Han Sung-jung said, “At first, I did it as a joke, but my colleagues copied me in the warm-up zone. It was fun doing it,” he said, expressing his intention to continue to use it in the future.