It has been another year to remember for DPR's outstanding Ri Kum Suk. Having led the Koreans to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup in China this September, the 29-year-old scooped the AFC Asian Women's Player of the Year award last week.

The Korean captain has been a key figure in her side's success over the course of 2007. She had served notice of intention in the final month of last year, scoring four goals to fire Korea DPR to win the gold medal at the Asian Games. But that was merely a sign of what would come next.

Ri, now wearing the No10, roared in the final qualifying round for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She got off to a bright start to the campaign with hat-tricks in the first two games against Chinese Taipei (8-0) and Hong Kong (14-0) in April, before adding a brace from the spot against Australia (2-0) on 3 June.

The veteran said the second half goals she scored in front of a 31,000-strong crowd at Yanggakdo Stadium was the best moment of her year: "Fans went crazy when I scored the deciding goals in Pyongyang. It was a great moment."

Ri kept up the momentum to score again in another 2-0 win in Australia, as the Koreans consolidated pole position. In August, the ladies from DPR went on to add two straight victories over Chinese Taipei (6-0) and Hong Kong (19-0), which left them on top of the group with a perfect record of six wins and 51 goals - including 12 from Ri - without conceding.

After claiming a ticket to Beijing in style, Ri and Co arrived at another Chinese city, Chengdu, where they would play their first two group games of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Despite being selected Player of the Match in a stunning 2-2 draw against favourites USA, who inflicted 3-0 defeats on the Koreans at the two previous editions, Ri was not satisfied with the result. "We should have beaten the Americans judging by the way we played," said the quiet forward after the game. "We were a little bit disappointed that we could not start with three points."

The Golden Lady shines
She was similarly disappointed with her goalless performance. Ri Kum Suk, whose given name means 'golden lady', had become accustomed to scoring, after all, winning the golden boot with 15 goals in the 2003 AFC Women's Asian Cup and netting more than 100 times for her club, April 25 Sports Group.

It didn't take long, however, for Ri to open her account, a pinpoint header in the very next game against Nigeria sealing a 2-0 win and helping secure a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in the country's history.

Although her Chinese dream came to a premature end with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of eventual champions Germany, Ri remains positive about the prospect of the Asian sides on the world stage. "Asian teams used to struggle in the FIFA events before but we have proved ourselves by reaching the quarter-finals," she said. "I'm sure we can beat any team in the world if we work harder."

So it is no surprise that she still believes there will be another chance in the future on the German soil: "Our team is among the best in Asia and our aim is to win the FIFA Women's World Cup in four years time."