Lee Jung-hoo (25, Kiwoom), now a national team player in the KBO, won a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang. The irony is that Lee shouldn’t have been in Indonesia at the time.
The final roster for the Jakarta-Palembang Games was announced on June 11, 2018. Initially, Lee’s name was not on the list. Lee made his first-team debut in 2017 and performed so well in his debut season that he won the Rookie of the Year award, and in 2018 he was performing even better than his rookie season, except for when he was sidelined with an injury. He was even considered for selection, but other players with more experience were given priority.
However, with the tournament just around the corner, the national team suddenly made four changes to the 24-man roster. Chow Chan (LG), Chung Chan-heon (LG), Choi Jeong (SK), and Park Gun-woo (Doosan) were dropped from the roster and replaced by Choi Won-tae (Nexen), Jang Pil-joon (Samsung), Hwang Jae-gyun (KT), and Lee Jung-hoo. “We decided to replace Chow Chan and the other four players because they were suffering from a series of injuries, both major and minor, and we felt that they could not perform at their best at the time of the Asian Games,” explained the team’s head coach at the time, Sun Dong-yeol.
In fact, none of the four players were suffering from major injuries, but their poor physical condition was affecting their performance, so we chose the player who was still in the best shape at the time. Lee Jung-hoo, who had been focusing on his season, earned his spot through hard work. He won a gold medal at the tournament and received military service benefits, giving him an early shot at the major leagues.
Even the Olympics, the highest level of competition at the Asian Games, has had its share of last-minute roster changes. In the 2008 Beijing 먹튀검증 Olympics, Lim Tae-hoon (Doosan) was replaced by Yoon Seok-min (KIA), who had been faltering just before the tournament. Yoon went on to help the Korean Baseball Organization win a gold medal in Beijing, proving that the KBO’s decision was the right one. It also symbolizes that making a roster change even after the final roster is submitted is not that difficult, even if it’s not a major injury, as long as you have the determination.
The final 24-man baseball roster for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, which will open a year late due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, was announced on Monday. With the Games not convening until mid-September, the roster was decided three to four months in advance. Naturally, the selection committee had to think long and hard. It is possible to make a very clear judgment of skill at the moment. But no one knows what will happen three or four months later.
Cho Gye-hyun, chairman of the Power Enhancement Committee, also explained his grievances on the 9th, saying, “The committee has been meeting for a long time every week for about three months.” “We had to focus not only on our current skills but also on the future, as the tournament is not happening right now, so there were cases where players who are currently injured were included in the roster. Koo Chang-mo (NC), who is expected to be the national team’s ace, is a typical case.
“We looked into his injury and determined that it was minor and that he would be able to recover enough to join the team in the next three months or more,” Cho explained. “It’s not an injury that will last for three months, and as long as there are no further injuries, he will be able to show his national team skills and physical condition by the time of the competition.
But the athletes aren’t resting and preparing for the Games. The professionals and the only amateur, Jang Hyun-seok (Masan Yongmago), must continue to compete in leagues and competitions. In this process, untimely injuries can happen at any time. It’s also a challenge to maintain a consistent level of performance that doesn’t raise questions about their quality. Perhaps the players who are on the roster now need to be held accountable for the time they have left.
Players who were on the reserve list and didn”t make the cut will need to give it their all if they want to earn a spot. In the event of an injury or a serious drop in performance, the door could open for a replacement. A KBO official explained, “In the case of an injured player, although the tournament outline has not been finalized, it is usually possible to replace a player on the reserve roster before the game.” While the final rosters have been finalized, the process isn’t over until the games begin to mark the start of the tournament.