"We will strive to win the championship"... Hana Bank re-signs Saki Iijima, 'Asia Quota Player of the Year'

*This content was translated by AI.

Bucheon Hana Bank continues to move forward with Japanese forward Saki Iijima (34), who won the 'Asia Quota Player of the Year' Seon Su-sang-eul (수상).

On the 30th, Hana Bank announced, "We have re-signed Saki Iijima, a key player for the team in the 2025-2026 season and the winner of the Asia Quota Player of the Year award."

Iijima joined the Hana Bank women's basketball team as the first overall pick in the 2025-2026 WKBL Asia Quota Player Draft. Relying on her solid fundamentals, she played a core role on both offense and defense, contributing to Hana Bank's regular season record of most wins (20 wins) and highest standing (2nd place).

This season, Iijima appeared in 29 regular season games, averaging 15.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists.

Thanks to her performance, Iijima became the first Asia Quota Player in WKBL history to be selected as Round MVP. She also secured first place in the All-Star fan vote, leaving a meaningful mark in league history. Furthermore, after the conclusion of the regular season, she won the Asia Quota Player of the Year award at the 2025-2026 Women's Professional Basketball Regular Season Awards Ceremony, proving both her skills and popularity simultaneously.

A Hana Bank official stated, "Saki Iijima is an irreplaceable asset who serves as a role model for the team's young players with her outstanding skills, diligent training attitude, and leadership. As she is an essential core player for the team to achieve higher goals next season, we proceeded with the re-signing."

Iijima shared her thoughts on the re-signing: "First, I am grateful to the club and the coach who believed in me. Feeling regret that we did not advance to the championship finals last season, I felt I could not end things as they were, so I decided to re-sign with Hana Bank to challenge for the championship. I will repay the fans who always support us with good results next season."

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*This content was translated by AI.