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Korean volleyball star Kim Yeon-koung says goodbye to fans at All-Star game series

Published: 18 May. 2025, 19:54

PAIK JI-HWAN
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Korean volleyball legend Kim Yeon-koung reacts after the KYK Invitational 2025 All-Star game series at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on May 18. [YONHAP]

Korean volleyball legend Kim Yeon-koung said farewell to fans on Sunday after capping off the KYK Invitational 2025 All-Star game series at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon.

Kim, 37, participated as a player-coach in Sunday's exhibition series featuring Team Star and Team World, both consisting of volleyball star invitees from across the world.

Team Star led by Kim won Sunday's contest 80-63. The game ran with a cumulative scoring system, where the first team to score cumulative 80 points wins the contest.

The KYK Invitational 2025 All-Star game is a two-game exhibition series that commemorates Kim's retirement from her 20-year career, which ended after she swept both the regular season and championship titles with the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders at the end of the 2024-25 V League campaign in April.

Korean volleyball legend Kim Yeon-koung, right, receives a bouquet of flowers after the KYK Invitational 2025 All-Star game series at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on May 18. [YONHAP]

The two titles allowed the volleyball star to cap off her V League career with five league titles — in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2023 and 2025 — and four championship trophies in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2025.

The 37-year-old showcased her talent not just in the V League but in multiple countries, such as Turkey and China, bringing about the glory days of Korean volleyball by leading the country to the semifinals at both the 2012 and 2020 Olympics.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY PAIK JI-HWAN, KO BONG-JUN [[email protected]]