Basketball veteran eyes record high with 1,000 block shots

Pro basketball player Kim Joo-sung, 35, boarded the team bus heading to Jeonju, the city where he will play against KCC on Friday, one day before the season opened. He is already in his 13th season.

Since graduating from Chung-Ang University in 2002, when he won the gold medal at the Busan Asian Games, he joined the pro league and led his team, TG (now Dongbu), to the top as a rookie. More than a decade later and in his mid-30s, Kim won the gold medal again at the Incheon Asian Games. He is the only player in Korean men’s basketball to have won two Asian Games gold medals. Kim, who retired from representing his country after the Asiad this year, says it was tough getting ready for these Asian Games but after joining Dongbu, he got revved up again amid the overflowing passion of his teammates.

Dongbu has finished just seventh and tenth during the past two seasons and this makes Kim shoulder a big responsibility. Kim says as he was fortunate enough to end with good results while playing for Korean in international games, he wants to end with good results for his pro team as well. Dongbu, which has new manager Kim Young-man, is aiming for recovery through effective preparation for the new season. Kim will play with KCC manager Hur Jae’s son, rookie Hur Woong. Kim is acquainted with Hur Jae, who is 14 years older than Kim, and reached the top of Korean pro basketball in the same team. Kim and Hur Woong are also 14 years apart in age.

Kim is targeting the first 1,000 block shots the season. Since his debut in his pro league, Kim had posted 931 block shots until last season, just 69 more to go. There is another record-breaker like Kim. SK’s Ju Hui-jeong will have played in a total of 900 matches if he plays just 28 more games. Mobis manager Yu Jae-hak, who led this year`s Asian Games victory in Incheon, is just 35 wins left before being the first manager who posts 500 wins in the Korean Basketball League.