Five marbles, 3.57%, and a miracle.
Korean Air, winners of a combined four consecutive titles, were fortunate to have the first overall pick in the men’s professional volleyball foreign player tryout draft. Korean Air selected Yosvani Hernandez (real name Yosvani Cuba), a former V-League champion.
Korean Air head coach Tommi Tillikainen selected Yosvani with the No. 1 overall pick in the men’s Foreign Player Tryout Draft, which was held at the Holiday Inn and Suites Dubai Science Park in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Nov. 11.
The pre-draft lottery that preceded the draft produced some surprising results.
The draw began with the marbles of the seventh-ranked KB Insurance (35), sixth-ranked Samsung Fire (30), fifth-ranked KEPCO (25), fourth-ranked Hyundai Capital (20), third-ranked Woori Card (15), second-ranked OK Financial Group (10), and first-ranked Korean Air (5) distributed in reverse order from last season.
However, Korean Air’s orange marble, which contained only five of the 140 marbles, was the first to come out of the machine.
The Korean Air table immediately erupted in cheers, and the room erupted in laughter. Hyundai Capital’s light blue marble, which contained 20 marbles, came out second. KB Insurance, KEPCO, Woori Card, Samsung Fire & Marine, and OK Financial Group were next in line.
Korean Air head coach Tommi Tilikainen was lucky enough to get the first overall pick, beating the odds by just 3.57% to select outside hitter Yosvani, who was out of contract with Samsung Fire.
Yosvani last wore a Korean Air jersey in the 2020-21 season as a replacement for Andres Biyena (KB Insurance). He returns to Incheon after four seasons.
The most talked about player of the tryout, MVP Leonardo Leyva Martinez (real name Leo-Cuba), wore a Hyundai Capital jersey. The second-ranked Hyundai Capital bolstered its firepower by taking Leo.
Hyundai now has the strongest “triangle 안전놀이터 squadron” of Leo, Heo, Su-bong, and Kwang-in.
At No. 3, KB re-signed Bijena, and at No. 4, HANJEON selected Cuban Luis Elian Estrada.
Luis, who can play both outside hitter and outside spiker, is a Cuban prodigy born in 2000 who dreams of becoming the next Leo. With his dynamic jumps and high-hitting offense, Luis has the potential to be a special player on offense.
At No. 5, Woori Card selected Michael Ahi (25-Netherlands-196 cm), while Samsung Fire, who slipped to No. 6, selected Matej Kok (Slovenia), who played for Woori Card last season.
Michael Ahi lacks the height of some of the other players, but he stands out with his bouncy jumps and energetic spikes. He can also play outside 안전한 파워볼사이트 hitter. He also scored high marks for his proactive approach to testing.
After receiving the second-most balls (30), Samsung Fire, who were ranked sixth, called for time and thought long and hard. Janggo coach Kim Sang-woo chose Matei, who played for Woori Card last season before dropping out due to injury.
The seventh and final pick, OK Financial Group, selected Manuel Luconi (25-192 cm) from Italy.
The re-signed Bijena, Leo, and Yosubani will earn $550,000 (about 750 million won) each, including taxes, while new players in their first year will earn $400,000 (about $505 million won).