Red Sparks opposite spiker Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi now a star in her homeland
Published: 19 Jan. 2025, 14:15
Updated: 19 Jan. 2025, 16:35
![Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks opposite spiker Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi attacks during a V League game against the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Dec. 17, 2024. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/19/bab4b6e1-8fd6-49ee-b40a-ed4bee23bd76.jpg)
Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks opposite spiker Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi attacks during a V League game against the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Dec. 17, 2024. [YONHAP]
Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks opposite spiker Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi has become a star in her home country, Indonesia, thanks to her stellar performance in the V League.
“Some people recognized me before I came to Korea, but now everywhere I go [in Indonesia], people recognize me and ask if I’m Mega,” Mega said during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, earlier this month. “I didn’t think I would be this famous [in Indonesia]. I am happy.”
Mega, 25, has gained popularity both on and off the court with her strong performance at the Red Sparks that she joined ahead of the 2023-24 season through the Asia Quota draft — a system through which V League teams can add an extra foreign player from selected Asian countries.
She played an integral role in the Red Sparks’ offense last season, scoring 736 points alone as the team’s top scorer to lead the club to the postseason for the first time in seven years.
Her notable presence attracted many Indonesian fans to the Red Sparks games and contributed to the team’s YouTube channel reaching over 300,000 subscribers from around 30,000.
Mega’s popularity even fell under the radar of the Indonesian government last year, as the country invited the Red Sparks to play a friendly against the Indonesian All-Star team in April last year in Indonesia.
Mega proudly said it was the first time the government had invited a foreign sports club to the country.
She has also done a good job convincing fans that she is an aggressive force from Indonesia.
After reaching the 1,000th-point mark in the V League in December last year, she has continued to impose her presence in the Red Sparks’ attack, with 500 points under her belt this season as of press time Sunday.
She even broke her record of the most points scored in a single V League game by scoring 44 points against the Hwaseong IBK Altos on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
Mega hopes that players from other countries can succeed just like her.
“I am thankful that I can make ties between the two countries and act as an example,” Mega said. “I hope more players from the Asia Quota draft can challenge the Korean stage and experience it like me.”
![Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks opposite spiker Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi [DAEJEON JUNG KWAN JANG RED SPARKS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/19/ed474f89-f53b-4042-8246-cd81aef123af.jpg)
Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks opposite spiker Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi [DAEJEON JUNG KWAN JANG RED SPARKS]
She has the second half of 2024-25 season action to catch with the Red Sparks, who set their all-time longest winning streak at nine earlier this month and extended it to 11 on Saturday.
The Red Sparks need to maintain third place in the V League table through the end of the campaign or jump higher as the top three teams enter the postseason.
In the V League, a third-place team books a ticket to the playoffs to face league runners-up. The winner of the playoffs advances to the championship to play league winners.
The Red Sparks have secured 41 points from 21 games, trailing five points behind second-place Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate.
BY KIM HYO-KYONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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