Kabaddi World Cup: Lee, the Korean head-turner

AHMEDABAD: With two minutes remaining on the clock in the key Group A match between South Korea and Bangladesh at the Kabaddi World Cup, here, last Thursday, Korea were staring at a huge upset with their opponents leading 30-26.That's when Jang Kun Lee stepped into the rival half and with the clock ticking away, Lee pulled off a spectacular super raid, winning his team three points thanks to a combination of a perfect kick and landing sequence that stunned the rivals.
Korea went on to win the match and later also ended up topping the group. Remarkably, this was the second time in a week that Lee had engineered a break-they were in a similar situation against India in their tournament opener too.
These are the performances that have made Lee the most influential raider of the competition, with the semifinals coming up on Friday. "What I did was nothing big," a modest Lee told TOI on Wednesday, through an interpreter. "It was a result of the hard work that the team had put."
Lee has carried out 20 successful raids so far in the tournament, but the number would have been way higher had the Korean think-tank not used him sparingly . He is muscular and wears a tattoo on his left arm bearing the words: `With our Lord.' So how did kabaddi come about for the youngster, who could easily have opted for other popular disciplines? “In high school , I was a rower, but did not see any future in it. Our sports teacher suggested I try my hand at kabaddi," said Lee.
He joined a club in Busan soon after and that's how he was noticed by the national team coach. Lee also has Pro Kabaddi League experience turning up for the Bengal Warriors.
Given the danger he has posed for opponents, the student of physical education at Dong-eui University , Busan, could go a long way in the sport.“Jang is young and technically very sound,“ reckons Sports Authority of India (SAI, Gandhinagar) coach Jaiveer Sharma, who has coached Koreans both home and away .
"Most of the Korean boys have come up playing taekwondo which is a tough sport. That's where they have picked up their kicking skills which they also use in kabaddi," says Sharma.
Can those kicks win them the World Cup?