The Slovakian Embassy in Korea hosted professional men’s volleyball star Martin Nemec of the Incheon Korean Air Jumbos, as the team vies to qualify for V-League playoffs, in a special reception at the Central European nation’s chancery on Feb. 22.

Slovakian Ambassador to Korea Dusan Bella said it was his honor to host a great Slovakian athlete, Martin Nemec, adding he is proud of Slovakian men and women who represent their country through sports around the world including in East Asia. Slovakia’s Jana Matiasovska plays for the women’s volleyball team Hyundai Hillstates.

The V-League’s regular season winds down this month, with the Jumbos in contention to qualify in best-of-four playoffs.

The Jumbos went as far as the championship game in the previous two seasons only to taste defeat at the hands of the Samsung Blue Fangs.

Each of the V-League’s six men’s teams are permitted to recruit one non-Korean, and the Blue Fangs have managed to outmaneuver their competitors in recruitment abroad since the V-League was founded in 2005. The Blue Fangs secured six championships in the past eight, and are again the team to beat this year.

Currently, Leonardo Leyva Martinez, the 205-cm star of the Blue Fangs, is leading the team in its fifth regular-season first-place finish with 825 points from 125 games, far ahead of Slovenian Mitja Gasparini, who plays with the Cheonan Hyundai Capital Skywalkers, at 647 points in 126 games.

Nemec has been playing for the Jumbos since 2011. Before coming to Korea he played professional volleyball in Italy, France, Turkey and Slovakia.

Other non-Korean players in men’s volleyball include Oreol Camejo Durruthy with the Gumi LIG Greaters; Bakare Oluwadamilola with the Seoul Woori Capital Dream Six; and Andelko Cuk of the Suwon KEPCO Vixtorm.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)