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| Goalkeeper Park Jae-yong / Photo = Korea Handball Federation |
Hanam City Hall beat Sangmu Phoenix 25-19 on April 11 at 4:10 p.m. at the Samcheok City Gymnasium in Gangwon Province in a Shinhan SOL Bank 25-26 Handball H League men’s match.
The victory improved Hanam’s record to 12 wins, 1 draw and 11 losses (25 points), moving them above .500. Sangmu Phoenix, forced to play without substitutes after several players were discharged from service, fell to 2 wins, 4 draws and 18 losses (8 points).
The first half was tight. Hanam took the early edge on consecutive goals from Kim Jae-sun, and Sangmu answered through Byun Seo-jun and Jin Yu-seong. Both defenses held strong and the goalkeepers made several key saves, keeping scoring scarce; after 10 minutes Hanam led 3-2.
Park Jae-yong produced a number of early stops, including becoming the second player in history to reach 1,500 career saves, but Sangmu’s defense still limited fast-break chances. Hanam then converted Sangmu turnovers into goals, with Yeon Min-mo and Kim Ji-hoon scoring back-to-back to make it 6-3. Hanam’s mistake allowed Sangmu to rally; Cha Hye-sung and Yoo Chan-min scored consecutively to knot the game at 8-8. Hanam closed the half up 11-9, buoyed by three straight saves from Park, who finished the first half with 10 saves.
The second half opened as a back-and-forth battle. Despite Park’s continued stops, Hanam struggled to extend the lead because of missed shots. Lee Hyuk-gyu and Cha Hye-sung scored in succession to pull Sangmu within 15-14. Sangmu even had to bring in injured goalkeeper Kim Seung-hyun, and while they managed to keep the deficit to a single goal for a stretch, Park’s timely saves shifted momentum back to Hanam.
Hanam pushed the lead to 19-15 with quick-break strikes from Kim Jae-sun and Kim Ji-hoon and a wing goal by Won Seung-hyun. As fatigue set in for Sangmu, errors multiplied and the gap widened down the stretch. Hanam closed out the game 25-19.
Game MVP Park Jae-yong said, “Securing a playoff spot relaxed me and I was able to make a lot of saves. My shoulder is about 80% recovered, but I’ll get it ready for the playoffs and show a strong performance. We’ve met the SK Hawks in the playoffs three years in a row; this time I’m coming in with a different mindset. To be honest, I used to be most worried about Lee Hyun-sik from the SK Hawks, but now that he’s on our team there’s nothing to fear. This time we’ll win decisively and make it to the championship.”
[Sports Today reporter Kang Tae-gu sports@stoo.com]
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