“We want to play Panasonic in the semifinals”
After advancing to the semifinals with a 2-1 record in the group stage of the 2023 KOVO Cup, OK Financial Group’s head coach Masashi Ogino and Apojit Sinjin have united to name Panasonic (Japan) as their semifinal opponent.
OK Financial Group defeated Woori Card 3-2 (25-23 19-25 25-18 23-25 15-13) in a full-set thriller in the fifth match of Group A of the 2023 Gumi/Bodram Cup Professional Volleyball Tournament at the Park Jung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi on Tuesday. With a 2-1 record, OK Financial Group will join Korean Air (2-1) in the semifinals with the last match of Group A to be played. The semifinal opponent will be determined after the first and second place finishers in Group B are decided in a matchup between Samsung Fire and Panasonic, who also qualified for the semifinals on Nov. 11.
OK Financial Group head coach Masashi Ogino, who took over the reins of the team during the off-season, breezed through the first gate by reaching the semifinals in his first official tournament.
In the post-match interview room, Ogino responded to the congratulations on reaching the semifinals with a Korean word for “thank you.” “I think we showed everything we’ve been practicing in the group stage,” he said. We will start again with a challenger’s mindset from the semifinals.”
When asked what was different about today’s match compared to the 2-3 full-set loss to Korean Air on Aug. 8, Ogino said, “Our team is confident in our physical strength. We have been training hard. Technically, we made fewer errors compared to Korean Air. That was the key to our victory today.” OK Financial Group finished the day with a 44.68% attack success rate, behind Woori Card’s 48.50%, and a 9-14 blocking record. They committed eight fewer errors (24) than Woori Card (32), which was a decisive factor in the victory 먹튀검증.
When asked which team he would like to see in the semifinals, Samsung Fire or Panasonic, Ogino said, “Panasonic, of course. I hope the players will learn a lot from facing the Japanese team. In particular, I want them to learn how Panasonic’s outside hitters, such as Shimizu and Nakamoto, attack when they are facing two-blocking, and what kind of course they hit.” “If I had to give a score for what our players have done in the three matches of this tournament, I would give them 70 points.”
Shin Shin-jin, the top scorer for OK Financial Group with 25 points, also entered the interview room as Suhoon. “Thanks to my brothers, we made it to the semifinals,” he said, “but I made too many mistakes, so I wasn’t very happy with the game.” Despite scoring 25 points on the day, Shin committed 11 errors. That was nearly half of the team’s total.
Shin also mentioned Panasonic as a team he’d like to face in the semifinals. “I learned a lot from watching his videos when I was younger,” he said, “because I’m a fan of Kunihiro Shimizu. Ogi-san (Ogino) also said that he wants to play against Panasonic, so I’m looking forward to playing against them in the semifinals to see how well I can play. I’m looking forward to playing against them.”