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| AFC Women’s Asian Cup |
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| Ri: individual award a team effort |
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| Ri Kum-suk scored seven times to won the 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup top scorer award. |
HO CHI MINH CITY – DPR Korea forward Ri Kum-suk has won the top goal scorer award for the 2008 AFC Women’s Asian Cup after her seven goals helped DPR Korea to win the tournament.
The 29-year-old, who was named the 2007 AFC Women’s Player of the Year, was in fine form for her country throughout the competition.
National team captain Ri opened her account in the tournament with the second goal in a 5-0 win over Thailand in DPR Korea’s first game in Group A.
She then grabbed a brace in their next game against Vietnam before adding to her tally with an impressive hat-trick against Australia to send the North Korean’s through to the final.
After China had taken an early lead, Ri grabbed the crucial second-half equaliser in the final at Thong Nat Stadium on Sunday before Kim Young-ae scored the winner.
But Ri refused to take the plaudits for her team’s victory, acknowledging the contribution of her team-mates in helping DPR Korea to claim their third-ever Asian Cup success.
“Football is not just about an individual’s performance,” she said.
“It is about the team’s whole performance and my success was because of what my team-mates did in the tournament also.”
Since making her debut for DPR Korea in 1999, Ri has been an integral part of the national team and helped them through to the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Ri scored 12 goals in qualifying for the Olympics and DPR Korea coach Kim Kwang-min will be looking to the forward to lead her team to more success at the Games in August.
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