In a cluster of doughty Indian kabaddi players the presence of a South Korean creates an outlandish effect.
Jang Kun Lee seems to have leapt out of a martial art move and landed straight on the kabaddi mat to salvage his Indian hosts from crisis. This is how the plot seems to be unfolding for the Bengal Warriors in the Pro Kabaddi League, where the 21-year-old South Korean, who calls himself a student of the sport, has already become a hero for the team.
Jang Kun Lee, who shares a part of his name with the celebrated martial art exponent Bruce Lee, has raised the expectations of his Indian teammates, something akin to the exploits of the celluloid hero. Lee is the raider (attacker) every defence dreads and the South Korean showed he is a quick learner as he picked up successive ‘Best Raider’ awards in the back-to-back matches his team Bengal Warriors won when the second round of the recently-launched STAR Sports Pro Kabaddi tournament hit the city this weekend.
His speed and agility are already a talk of the tournament. The player says it comes from his experience of playing the martial art sports like judo and taekwondo. “The tournament is a big learning experience for me and it really feels nice to be apart of it,” Lee said, after picking up his second best raider award.
The Korean interest in Kabaddi does not stop with Lee. The secretary general of Korea Kabaddi Association Yoon Young-hak is closely monitoring the education process of his boys. The other Korean player with Bengal Warriors, Seong Ryeol Kim, is a defender and had already made his debut with the Warriors. Young-hak insists that Kim is also a player of great merit. There are two more Koreans – Dong Ju Hong and Tae Deok Eom who play for Dabang Delhi and Patna Pirates – but it is Lee who is currently hogging the limelight.
Lee went on to reveal the secret of his instant success. “We have a different training procedure in Korea where we focus more on weight training and other strength-building measures. That probably makes us quick and agile. Indians are the best in the world in technique, but I am not sure about the time they devote to weight training,” he said.
The South Korean player says the newly designed professional tournament like Pro Kabaddi will help the sport gain the attention of the world.
“Kabaddi is yet to pick up in our country. The good performance of players like Lee or Kim will definitely help the sport grow in our country,” said Young-hak appreciating the way Bengal Warriors is using his compatriots. “We are preparing for international tournaments like Asian Games and our experience here will form an important part of our training and understanding of the game,” Yoon Young-hak said, adding that his country also is taking the help of coaches from Sports Authority of India to train their players.
