“I will restore my honor at the convention and become the ‘Rabbit King’.”
That’s what Kang Baek-ho (KT Wiz) said in an interview at the beginning of the year as he celebrated the Year of the Rabbit. He hopes to erase the “chewing gum controversy” at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and his lack of success in international competitions at this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games (AG). When asked about his goals for this year, he said, “I want to become the ‘Rabbit King,’ the best among the rabbit players.”
But it was a cold spring and summer for Kang. At the WBC, he was chopped for his “seriomy jurusa” despite swinging hard, and in a regular season game in May, he was criticized by fans for his complacent “arirang songu” that led to a loss. Amidst the controversy and self-recrimination, Kang became psychologically weakened. In the end, he was unable to play until August due to his physical condition and seemed to have the worst season of his career.메이저사이트
Luckily, he picked up steam in September. He improved his batting in time for the AGs, and was a mood-setter in the team’s training sessions leading up to the tournament. I had a different mindset going into this tournament. Although he didn’t get many hits in the AG, he led the younger players well and won the gold medal.
After the gold medal was clinched, Kang broke down in tears. “I’m really sorry that I didn’t always play well for the national team,” he said, “I had a lot of panic disorder for four months. I think this season is the hardest time in my life,” he confessed. For Kang, the gold medal not only restored his international honor, but also put his heartbreak behind him.
He will now return to his team and continue his quest for the ‘Rabbit King’ title. KT has already confirmed its participation in the fall baseball season. They will play the Doosan Bears in the final game of the season on October 10 to solidify their second place. If KT wins just one game, or if Doosan loses just one of its remaining eight games, KT will go directly to the playoffs (second place in the regular season). With a relatively strong start to the postseason, there’s a good chance they could pull off an upset in the Korean Series. If Kang Baek-ho can pull off the “double whammy” of winning the AG gold medal and the fall baseball title, he could truly be crowned the “rabbit king.