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Handball H-League leaders Doosan take 30-point lead with win over Chungnam Province
Doosan defeats Chungnam-do to reach the 30-point plateau.
Doosan defeated Chungnam-do 28-24 in the fifth game of the fourth round of the Shinhan SOL Pay 23-24 Handball H League Men's Division at SK Hawks Arena in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea on Wednesday.
With the victory, Doosan moved to 14 wins, two draws and four losses, with 30 points, to remain in first place. Chungnam-do, which lost its second straight game, is now in sixth place with three wins, 17 losses and six points.
The first half was tense. Doosan's defense came out in front and blocked a mid-range shot from Chungnam, but allowed a pivot play.
Chungnam Chungcheongnam-do kept Doosan at bay with a solid defense, but conceded a goal when they allowed a breakthrough. On offense, the gap widened midway through the match as Kim Dong-wook was stopped by the goalkeeper.
After Chungnam got to 6-5, Kang Jeon-gu scored back-to-back goals to extend Doosan's lead to 11-7. After Doosan's Ha Moo-kyung was sent to the bench for two minutes, Chungnam Provincial Government was unable to catch up as their shooting percentage dropped despite their numerical advantage, and they fell behind by three or four points. Doosan ended the first half with a 14-11 lead.
The lead grew to 20-14 in the second half after a Chungnam government miscue. The goal scoring slowed down as both teams' goalkeepers made saves. The score remained within four or five points as Chungnam provincial government failed to close the gap easily.
In the middle of the third quarter, Doosan increased its lead to 25-18 as Chungnam Provincial Government made a mistake. Doosan did not allow Chungnam Chungnam-do to close the gap to 27-23 when Kang Jeon-goo was red-carded for hitting the goalkeeper in the face, but Doosan did not allow the lead to grow any further. In the end, Doosan won the match 28-24.
Doosan's offense was led by Kang Jeon-gu with six goals and Chung Jung-kyung with five, while goalkeeper Kim Dong-wook made 12 saves. Chung became the second player in history to reach 800 goals.
Koo Chang-eun, Kim Min-kyu, Nam Dong-wook, and Park Sung-sung scored five goals apiece for Chungnam, while goalkeepers Kim Soo-hwan, Nam Sung-cheol, and Choi Eun-beom combined for 10 saves.
Goalkeeper Kim Dong-wook was named the MVP after making saves at crucial moments to secure the win for Dusan. "It feels good to win this game after losing the last one," Kim said of the victory, and when asked about his goals for the final five rounds, he said, "I hope to win all the games and go to the championship finals as the top team, but to do that, we need to stay injury-free and have some luck."