Badminton Association ‘not ready to pardon’

The Olympics are over. However, the controversy and scrutiny of the Korea Badminton Association, which began with Ahn Se-young’s interview, is just beginning.

After the Paris 2024 Olympics ended, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism officially announced on the 12th that it would begin investigating the Korea Badminton Association. “As the 2024 Paris Olympics are currently underway, we will grasp the exact facts as soon as the Olympics are over and review the need for appropriate improvement measures based on the results,” the ministry said on June 6.

As of 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is providing KRW 7.12 billion in subsidies to the Korea Badminton Association. The investigation has the legal nature of an administrative inspection in accordance with the Rules for Establishment and Supervision of Nonprofit Corporations under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and an inspection of the implementation of subsidized projects in accordance with the Subsidy Management Act.

The ministry plans to investigate the Korean Badminton Association by focusing on the issues Ahn mentioned in her interview. “We will not only look into the controversial issues of inadequate injury management, doubles-oriented training, and alleged coercion to compete in tournaments, but also into the controversial system-related issues, subsidy execution and operation of the association,” said the ministry. “We will examine the fairness of the national team selection process and the effectiveness of training and competition support, whether the association’s sponsorship contract is balanced between the association and the players, the reasonableness of the system that restricts players in badminton from participating in international competitions, and whether there is any unreasonableness in the players’ salary system.”

It will also examine the need for personal trainers to participate in the national training program, which is currently banned in practice, although there are no clear regulations. “We plan to use this as an opportunity to come up with future-oriented measures that can have a ripple effect on the development of not only badminton but also other sports,” the ministry said.

The team will be headed by Lee Jung-woo, director of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. More than 10 people from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and investigators from the Sports Ethics Center, an affiliated organization, were included in the investigation team.

“Not only Ahn Se-young, but any of our athletes can say what they want to say. It is the natural attitude of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and sports organizations to listen to athletes. The fundamental question of this investigation is, ‘Are the federations doing their job for the athletes?” he added. This is a rebuttal to the recent comments by the Korean Sports Ministry’s president, Lee Ki-heung, that Ahn Se-young’s interview criticizing the Korea Badminton Association was “clumsy and inappropriate.”

Ahn Se-young is preparing to release an organized statement. After winning the gold medal in the women’s singles badminton event at the 카지노사이트 Paris 2024 Olympic Games on May 5, Ahn Seyoung took to Twitter to criticize the Korea Badminton Association.

“I endured so much for seven years. I suppressed it for this goal. I’m cautious, but I wanted to say something, because one of the reasons why I wanted to win the Olympics and why I ran so hard was because I wanted my voice to be heard,” she said.

“As far as I’m concerned, singles and doubles in badminton are two different things and players shouldn’t be disqualified. I think our federation is trying to block everything. And in the name of freedom, they allow a lot of negligence. I think badminton could be a lot better, but I think we should reflect on the fact that we only have one gold medal.”

“My injury was a difficult situation to heal from. I’ve been playing through it since the first misdiagnosis. I went back at the end of last year and it was still pretty bad. I had a short time left before the Olympics and I had to endure it, but my trainer helped me to come this far.”

He said he would talk more about it when he got back to Korea, but when he flew home on July 7, he held back: “We’ll talk more about it. I can’t do anything now that I’ve arrived,” he said cautiously.

A day later, Ahn said on her personal social media account, “My thoughts and stance will be discussed after the Games are over and all the athletes have had a chance to celebrate.”

She felt overwhelmed by the fact that all the major issues of the Olympics were overshadowed by the Badminton Association controversy. Ahn is expected to issue a statement soon.

Starting with Ahn’s gold medal interview, various controversies that hadn’t surfaced before, such as the Korean Badminton Association’s poor player management and hierarchical management attitude, unfairness in the national team selection process, private sponsors, and salary restrictions, all came to the surface at once. The public outcry against the KBA reached a fever pitch, especially when the president of the Korea Sports Federation, Lee Ki-heung, said, “Lee Yong-dae didn’t make such a complaint,” and “the way he expressed it was clumsy and inappropriate,” which only added to the anger.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is speeding up the investigation to conclude quickly. It is aiming for a conclusion in September. Depending on the outcome, the Korean Badminton Association could be hit hard, including a cut in funding.