“I am happy to be able to play with Sungmin Moon.”
The Panasonic Panthers, led by coach Laurent Tilly, will participate as an overseas invited team in the 2023 Gumi-Dodram Cup professional volleyball tournament being held at the Gumi Park Chung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
In the first game of the tournament held on the 7th, Panasonic announced a pleasant start by winning a set score 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-20) against Hyundai Capital.
The protagonist of the victory on this day is Kunihiro Shimizu (37), a veteran apologetic spiker. Simiji made a big success with 13 points and a 61% attack success rate, contributing to the team’s victory.
Fans of volleyball must have heard of the name Shimizu. Since Shimizu joined Panasonic in 2008, he has been playing all the time without changing a team. He showed off his terrifying presence in his prime, winning the top scorer, MVP, and best apogee.
He is also a former Japanese national apogee spiker. He competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won silver medals at the 2010 Guangzhou and 2014 Incheon Asian Games. He also won MVP at the 2015 Asian Championships. He often appeared in matches against Korea and Japan, and has a deep connection with Korean players.
In particular, Shimizu is happy to reunite with Moon Seong-min, who had a head-to-head confrontation between the nets that day. Moon Seong-min was also an apogee representing Korea, and the two players were often matched in the national team as the same age. I also greeted Yeo Oh-hyun, a libero whom I often met during my national team days.
Shimizu said, “Now I am 37 years old. I was happy to be able to play with Moon Seong-min, who is the same age as her. When I went to the Asian Championships in the past, the ace of the Korean national team was Moon Seong-min스포츠토토,” he said. “Korean players are fast and aggressive. I gained confidence by winning against such a team,” he laughed.
I am 37 years old this year, and now I have fewer days to play volleyball than the day I played volleyball, so the time now is precious.
He said, “Unlike when I first met Moon Sung-min, I am old now. He could jump higher as well. As he gets older, he feels regret for jumping or performing. However, he gets a lot of motivation from watching Sungmin Moon try to overcome technically. I want to continue my career as an athlete until Sungmin Moon retires,” he smiled.
Ryohei Iga and Issey Otake, who ate together at Panasonic until last season, will play for KEPCO and Woori Card, respectively, from next season.
In response, Shimizu said, “It would be nice to go to Korea and learn a lot and meet again.”
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