The archery team won all five events at the 2024 Paris Olympics, making it the best ever.
As is widely known, the archery team’s propaganda includes all-round support from Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, the chairman of the Korea Archery Association.
By providing state-of-the-art training equipment and helping players train with unconventional financial support, he was not involved in the selection of the national team or the operation of the association, drawing fair competition.
In addition, it raised the competitiveness of Korean archery by promoting constant innovation and a sense of challenge.
Hyundai Motor Group’s philosophy was also injected into the KIA Tigers, a professional baseball team run by its affiliate Kia, this year.
KIA overcame numerous crises through bold and quick decision-making in the 2024 season.
With the appointment of a coach who broke down the seniority line and teamwork of offense and defense, the team created a new trend. Whenever foreign players leave the team due to injury, they minimize power shortages by making fast contracts and accurate investments.
Like its parent company that generated the best performance ever, the KIA team ranked first in the regular league for the first time in seven years and continued the legend of winning the Tigers’ Korean Series, which was undefeated in all 12 games.
Analysts say that Kia’s 12th victory in the Korean Series (KS) reflects Chairman Chung Eui-sun’s philosophy and group culture.
KIA announced an unconventional personnel appointment of Lee Bum-ho, its first-team batting coach, as its new coach after his former coach stepped down in February due to unsavory circumstances, ahead of the opening of the 2024 regular season.
Manager Lee Bum-ho, born in 1981, is the first head coach of professional baseball to be born in the 1980s and is only two years older than Choi Hyung-woo, born in 1983, who was the oldest member of the team.
KIA was able to appoint the youngest coach ever, leaving behind the concerns of its surroundings, as a result of the parent group’s atmosphere of “Don’t be afraid of change.”
Chairman Chung Eui-sun also took over as president of the Korea Archery Association in 2005 and abolished unreasonable practices caused by factions such as Ji-yeon and Hak-yeon and blocked unfair selection of players.
Thanks to boosting athletes’ morale and creating a transparent competition system, Korean archery has made great achievements in international competitions such as the Olympics.
KIA teams also started the 2024 season with a bold decision, breaking old practices.
Manager Lee Bum-ho is from Daegu and made his professional debut with Hanwha Eagles.
On the first day of his inauguration, coach Lee revealed his guiding philosophy to the players, “Don’t look around and play happily without fear.”
Chairman Chung Eui-sun’s New Year’s address this year, which said, “We need to create a corporate culture where we can continue new thoughts and challenges without being frustrated by failures.”
Most professional baseball teams deliver on-site opinions to the front desk when selecting or replacing foreign players, and the front desk moves with the approval of the parent group.
In this process, decision-making is often delayed due to disagreements between the field and the front office, and the field and the parent group.
However, KIA minimized the power gap with rapid judgment and support whenever a foreign player was injured.
It was in early May that Wil Crowe, who was the first starter, collapsed due to partial damage to the inner elbow.
Soon after, Kia recruited Cam Aldred, a temporary substitute. It took only 19 days before the announcement of Crow injury and Aldred’s recruitment.
As Aldred’s power fell below expectations, KIA signed left-hander Eric Lauer, who won 36 games in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB).
When James Nail, who served as an ace, left after being hit on the chin at the end of the season, the KIA team turned its attention to Taiwan and urgently recruited Eric Stout as a substitute.
KIA is the only team in the KBO League this season that has hired two temporary substitute foreign players.
Nail, who was able to concentrate on rehabilitation thanks to the club’s quick response, shook off the injury and took the lead in winning the two KS games against the Samsung Lions with one win and an ERA of 2.53.
Lauer also played his part by blocking Samsung’s batters with two runs in five innings in Game 3 of the KS.
Looking back on the urgent replacement of foreign players, an official from KIA pointed out, “We could have experienced a difficult situation without the support of the parent group.”
Hyundai Motor and Kia recorded the highest total operating profit ratio of 10.7% in the first half of this year among global “top 5” automakers. 토토사이트
Total sales and operating profit were 139.4599 trillion won and 14.9959 trillion won, the highest on a half-year basis.
Genesis and Kia led the profitability improvement, all of which were helped by Chairman Chung Eui-sun.
Chairman Chung Eui-sun discontinued the unpopular model as Kia’s representative before taking the helm of the group and led the reorganization of the lineup centered on leisure vehicles (RVs) in line with market demand.
“Change” is Hyundai Motor Group’s biggest philosophy and value.
Chairman Chung said at last year’s New Year’s party, “When water accumulates, it is easily contaminated if you stop changing like it is rotting.”
KIA teams have already started preparing for next year before the celebration is over.
On the 3rd, less than a week after the Korean Series, bench coach Kim Joo-chan and first-team defensive coach Kim Min-woo were recruited, and on the same day, he renewed his contract with coach Lee Bum-ho for a total of 2.6 billion won for three years, declaring a new start in stability.
In addition, to overcome the weaknesses that had the most errors (127) among the 10 clubs this season, coach Daiki Mitsumata, a former Japanese professional baseball player, was invited as a defense instructor for the closing camp and began prescribing short- and long-term defense.
The 2025 season of the heavily armed tiger corps has already begun with a change that does not stop, just as moss cannot get stuck in rolling stones.
