OK Finance defeats Samsung Fire in final
OK Financial Group players celebrate after defeating Samsung Fireworks 3-1 in the men’s final of the Gumi Dodram Cup professional volleyball tournament on Wednesday.
The men’s professional volleyball team OK Financial Group has won the Korea Volleyball Organization (KOVO) Cup for the first time since its inception.
OK Financial Group defeated Samsung Fireworks 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20) in the men’s final of the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup professional volleyball tournament at Park Jung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi, 성인웹툰 North Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday. This is the first time in 10 years that OK Financial Group, the youngest of the seven teams in the men’s professional volleyball division, has reached the top of the tournament since its inception in 2013. After reaching the final three times (2015, 2019, and 2021) and losing all three times, OK Financial Group won the trophy for the first time in three games.
OK Financial Group was led to victory by Shin Shin-jin, who scored a game-high 34 points, while captain Chae Chae-hwan added 23 points. “In terms of numbers, I scored the most points, but my teammates helped me a lot,” said Shin, 일본야동 who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
The first Japanese head coach of a men’s professional volleyball team, OK Financial Group head coach Masashi Ogino, made a successful debut in Korea by leading his team to the title in just two months. “It’s not so much about winning the title as it is about participating in an official competition,” says Ogino. “I want to praise the players for their hard work, but I don’t want them to be overconfident. The regular season is different from the cup tournament in every way, from the scheduling of games to the conditions.”
Samsung Fire, which finished last in the V League last season, set the tone by defeating last season’s V League champion Korean Air in the semifinals, but could not get past OK Financial Group to win its third cup title in five years and first since 2018. “It’s a big confidence boost,” 한국야동 said Samsung Fire coach Kim Sang-woo.