Male Volleyball Players Are Trying to Follow in Megawati Hangestri's Footsteps

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Following the footsteps of female volleyball players Yolla Yuliana and Aulia Suci Nurfadila, who attempted to emulate Megawati Hangestri in the Korean Volleyball League this season, it is now the turn of male Indonesian volleyball players to try their luck in the same arena. Several male volleyball players are registered in the Asia Quarter Draft for the Korean Volleyball League for the 2025-2026 season.

In accordance with the regulations of the Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO), every foreign volleyball player wishing to play in the Korea Volleyball League must first register through the Draft Quarter. Indonesian players and other Asian players are listed in the Asia Quarter Draft.

News about Indonesian players registering for the Asia Quarter Draft was first conveyed by Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi's agent in Korea, Negawassup, through a post on her YouTube channel. Negawassup mentioned that eight male volleyball players from Indonesia have registered as Asia quota for the Korean Volleyball League or V League for the 2025-2026 season.

The eight names are Doni Haryono, Rivan Nurmulki, Agil Angga, Sandi Akbar, Luvi Nugraha, Dawuda Alaihimas Sallam, Fahri Septian, and Nizar Julfikar.

In addition, ASP Sports Agency also announced that its client, Dio Zulfikri, has also registered as a candidate for the Asian quota player in the Korean League. With the participation of the captain of Jakarta LavAni Livin’ Transmedia in Proliga 2025, there are now nine male volleyball players attempting to follow in the footsteps of Megawati Hangestri.

Nizar confirmed the news. The former captain of Indonesia's men's national team admitted that he is indeed interested in pursuing a career abroad, including in South Korea. Thus, he decided to try out the opportunity.

"The competition is definitely tight because there are many players who have registered, including from Asian countries that are strong in volleyball, such as Iran (ranked second in Asia and 15th in the world). Reportedly, the number is also large," said Nizar when contacted, Tuesday (4/2/2025).

According to the Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO), as reported by Korean media outlet Seoul.co.kr, when registration for the Asia Quarter Draft closed, there were 101 male and 45 female volleyball players who registered. The number has increased from last year when 69 male players and 37 female players participated.

The spike was partly due to changes in the registration and selection scheme. For the 2024-2025 season, after the administrative process, players were filtered into 30 participants to take part in the try out.

For the next season, which will be the third year of the Draft Asia Quarter, the format will be completely online on April 11, 2025. After submitting statistical records, video recordings, and several other documents, players will undergo non-face-to-face interviews. Players will also be selected without tryouts.

"Although the competition is tighter, I still try this opportunity. However, I try to focus on what is going on now," he added.

Currently, Nizar is also pursuing a career abroad by strengthening the Thai Volleyball League club, Diamond Food Fine Chef Samutsakorn. This is the first time for Nizar to play abroad.

Nizar said the offer actually came since the previous season. However, he was only able to get permission from his club, Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi, after successfully leading the club to the podium of the 2024 Proliga champion.

Doni Haryono and Rivan Nurmulki's agent, Wibi Anhari, also confirmed the news that his clients registered for the Asian draft for the Korean Volleyball League. Wibi said the players had sent videos for selection.

Like Nizar, Doni and Rivan are also currently pursuing careers abroad. In fact, Doni is also playing in the Thai League and will face Nizar in the final of the competition this weekend. Doni strengthens Nakhon Ratchasima Huione QminC.

Before his career in the Thai League, Doni had experience playing in other countries. In 2024, Doni played at Bodyguard Headquarter in the Cambodian League. Two years earlier, in the 2022-2023 season, he strengthened VC Nagano Tridents in the Japanese League.

Rivan first played in Thailand in 2019 to strengthen Doni's current club. Then in 2020-2022, Rivan wandered to the Japanese League to play with VC Nagano Tridents. This season, Rivan also plays in the Japanese League by strengthening Wolfdogs Nagoya.

Since the 2024-2025 season, KOVO has expanded the scope of Asian countries that can participate in the tryout from 10 countries to 64 countries. This includes top Asian countries, such as Japan, China, and Australia. The expansion was carried out after KOVO considered the 2023-2024 Asia Quarter Draft a success.

Two Indonesian women volleyball players, Yolla Yuliana and Aulia Suci Nurfadila, are trying their luck to follow in Megawati's footsteps this season. They are among the 30 participants who passed the administrative process.

Both players also participated in a tryout held in Jeju, South Korea. However, in the end, no team selected them.

Meanwhile, Megawati does not need to take another tryout because she has played in the Korean League in the previous season. Tryouts are intended for new participants.

Megawati's presence in the Korean League has become a phenomenon. In her second season, Megawati still showed brilliant performances and became the mainstay of the Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks team.

Not only giving impact on the field, Megawati also brought effect off the field in the form of a wave of Indonesian fans who watched the Korean League. It is not impossible that the same effect will also be produced by other Indonesian players if they can follow Megawati's footsteps in the "Land of Ginseng".