Top teams seeking to win the championship by recruiting replacement foreign players
Heungkuk Life Willow Johnson suffers knee injury.
It is no exaggeration to say that the victory in the professional volleyball V-League this season depends on alternative foreign players.
In particular, teams seeking to win the men's and women's championship recently recruited alternative foreign players due to poor team performance and injuries, respectively.
The men's Korean Air, which is seeking its fourth consecutive win, has officially said goodbye to Lincoln Williams, who has been with him for two seasons, and replaced him with Murad Khan, a Pakistani player who was working as a substitute.
Lincoln is a foreign player who led Korean Air to an integrated championship in the past two seasons, and from Korean Air's point of view, it has won four consecutive games this season.
Korean Air coach Tommy Tilikainen expressed his expectations for Murad, saying, "He is a player with excellent attack and blocking ability using good physicality," adding, "I have worked hard to adapt to the team over the past eight weeks and I judged that I could give more power to achieve the team's goal of winning the championship."
Korean Air, which is currently running for a five-game winning streak, has pulled down Woori Card and jumped to the lead. In particular, Murad met the team's expectations by scoring 21 points, the most in the team, in the "preview championship game" against Woori Card on the 17th.
On the other hand, Woori Card, which was pushed to second place after leading the way throughout the game, announced on the 19th that it recruited Artem Sushko (registered name Artem) in place of Mattei Kok, who left due to injury.
Artem has a physical condition of 203cm and 91kg, and played as an outside heater and apogit for the "Police SC team" in the Qatar League in the 23-24 season.
From 2019 to 2023, he played in leagues in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, and also in the V-League as a substitute for KEPCO in the 2018-19 season.
As soon as the transfer process is completed, Artem will be deployed as early as the game against KB Insurance, the last game of the fifth round, on the 22nd.
Artem's performance is important for Woori Card, which has been pushed down to second place, to continue its leading competition with Korean Air.
Artem Sushko, an alternate foreign player for Woori Card.
Heungkuk Life Insurance, which is currently second in the women's division, is also taking the lead in chasing Hyundai Engineering & Construction with a winning streak, enjoying the Willow Johnson effect, which it recruited on the 22nd of last month.
Heungkuk Life Insurance has recorded a superb five-game winning streak since recruiting Willow. The gap with top-ranked Hyundai E&C is only three points.
However, there has been a variable recently in which Willow suffers an injury to his right knee. As a result, Willow missed the home game against IBK Industrial Bank of Korea on the 15th.
Heungkuk Life without Willow continued its winning streak, but won after a struggle in a full set against IBK Industrial Bank of Korea. Willow is likely to miss the Pepper Savings Bank match on the 20th, and the key for Heungkuk Life is to return to a healthy body as soon as possible to win the championship. 메이저 토토사이트