Sonia Ursu Kim
Sonia Ursu Kim (김소니아) is a Korean/Romanian professional basketball player who made a notable entrance into the WKBL (Women’s Korean Basketball League) when she joined the Chuncheon Woori Bank Hansae (춘천 우리은행 한새) straight out of high school and played there for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. Woori Bank Hansae won back-to-back WKBL championships in the seasons that Sonia was on their roster.
Sonia’s time in the WKBL was significant as there are still very few mixed Korean athletes that have played or are currently playing in Korean professional sports. While no longer in the WKBL, there is still a good chance she may return to the league in the future.
She is now the starting shooting guard for Olimpia CSU Braşov in Romania this 2014-15 season. It is her first pro season in Romania and third overall. She is currently averaging 8.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the season (as of 3/6/2015).
The 5’9″ (1.76m) guard/forward is also on the Romanian Women’s National under-20 basketball team and has hopes to be selected to compete for Romania in the FIBA EuroBasket Women 2015 tournament this upcoming June.
While Sonia is in the middle of her 2014-15 pro season we were able to catch up with Sonia to discuss her background and basketball career and are pleased to present this interview.