The 2022 KWBL Wheelchair Basketball League (June 17-December 11) awards ceremony was held on the afternoon of the 20th at Olympia Hall, Olympic Parktel, Seoul. This season, the Coway Blue Wheels wheelchair basketball team splendidly became the champion in the first year of its founding. After finishing 3rd in the regular season, Coway beat Jeju Samdasoo in the playoffs to advance to the championship game and even defeated the Chuncheon Sports Association for the Disabled to win the championship. 안전놀이터
Choi Wook-cheol, president of the Korea Wheelchair Basketball Federation (KWBL), said, “Despite the difficult conditions of the spread of Corona 19 over the past two years, all games have been played. He successfully completed the league competition without a single injury or confirmed case. No matter what difficulties we face in the future, we will continue to move forward with the Wheelchair Basketball League. We will show an exciting game with many spectators.”
“The KWBL Wheelchair Basketball League is Asia’s first wheelchair basketball league,” said Jeong Jin-wan, president of the Korean Disabled Sports Association. This year, it served as a driving force for the development of wheelchair basketball in Korea for the 8th time, and achieved remarkable results such as participating in the Tokyo Paralympic Games on its own for the first time in 21 years. It will serve as a driving force for the hopeful future of Korean disabled sports.”
Jeong Dae-cheol, former member of the National Assembly, who is senior to President Choi in politics, said, “The Wheelchair Basketball League is now aiming for 8 teams (currently 6 teams). President Choi worked hard even during his days as a member of the National Assembly, and he worked hard day and night in wheelchair basketball and brought it to this point. I hope that KWBL will prosper further in the future. I will be of help,” he said encouragingly.
After that, the actual presentation took place. The main characters of the special award went on stage. Hot Player Award Yoo Gyo-shik (Suwon) Kim Seong-nam (Daegu), Fair Play Award Hwang Jung-hee (Goyang) Cho Hyun-seok (Jeju), Sixth Man Award Kim Jeong-soo (Suwon) Yoon Seok-hoon (Coway), Rebound Award Choi Yo-han (Goyang), Record Award Oh Dong-seok (Low 500 assists) Choi Yo-han (Low 500 rebounds) Jang Kyung-shik (High 2000 points) Cho Seung-hyun (High 2000 points, 500 assists) took the stage in turn and received the spotlight.
The Leadership Award was given to Coway coach Kim Young-moo. Baek Sang-ha (Daegu), Oh Dong-seok (Coway), Lee Yun-joo (Chuncheon), Cho Seung-hyeon (Chuncheon), and Kim Dong-hyun (Jeju) embraced the glory of the Best 5.
Ho-yong Kim of Coway, the winning team, was named the league’s best player and MVP who boasted the most outstanding play. Kim Ho-yong said, “I received this award 8 years after the league started. Thanks to his players who helped him a lot, I will give this honor to his teammates. I’ll buy you some rice Next year, I will take good care of my body and do it like this year.” On this day, the award ceremony concluded with the MVP award, promising the next season.