Ahn Ji-hyun, a leading cheerleader and creator of domestic professional sports, advances to the stage of the Taiwan Professional Baseball League (CPBL).안전놀이터
On the 18th, major Taiwanese media outlets reported, “Ahn Ji-hyun, who worked as a cheerleader for the Korean professional baseball Lotte Giants, will join the Taiwanese professional baseball team’s new team, the Taigang Hawks, as a trainer for a cheerleading audition.” Taigang is a Taiwanese steel company that founded a professional baseball team and is currently participating in the second division league. The club system is being overhauled with the goal of entering the first team next season.
Taigang is conducting a cheerleading audition project as a way to draw attention from baseball fans before entering the professional baseball stage. After educating prospective cheerleaders until December, they plan to select official cheerleaders for the club through an open audition program in partnership with a Taiwanese TV broadcaster. Ahn Ji-hyun leads the overall education program for applicants who will participate in the cheerleading audition.
Hwang Seung-hyeon, CEO of 2S Spotainment, Ahn Ji-hyeon’s domestic agency, said, “Cheerleading has become a key item in the entertainment industry in Taiwan. It is similar to the position occupied by girl groups in the Korean Wave,” he explained. “In the meantime, several Taiwanese league teams, including Taigang, have sent love calls to Ahn Ji-hyun, a top-class Korean professional sports cheerleader.”
Ahn Ji-hyun debuted as a professional basketball Seoul Samsung cheerleader in 2015 and has been active as a cheerleader for Seoul SK (basketball), Suwon FC (soccer), and Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate (volleyball). In professional baseball, he was active in Nexen Heroes and Lotte Giants and secured a thick fan base. Since last May, he has also been active as the creator of the esports team Gen.G.
Ahn Ji-hyun is the second Korean top cheerleader to enter Taiwan after Lee Da-hye, who joined Rakuten Monkeys in 2019. Looking at the entire overseas expansion case, it is the fourth including first-generation cheerleaders Park Bo-yeon and Kim Mi-ran, who entered China in 2007.