Published: 21 Oct. 2024, 09:46
Updated: 21 Oct. 2024, 09:50
Korea’s An Se-young competes in the gold medal women’s singles badminton match at the Paris Olympics in Paris on Aug. 5 [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
Ahn Se-young playing in the women’s badminton singles final at the Paris Olympics held in Paris, France on August 5. [올림픽사진공동취재단]
Olympic gold medalist permitted to wear her own shoes, for now
Ahn Se-young was temporarily allowed to wear her own shoes.
Article on page 7 of Korea JoongAng Daily
Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024
The Badminton Korea Association (BKA) said Monday that it will temporarily permit Olympic gold medalist An Se-young to wear her own shoes.
temporarily: temporarily
permit: permit, allow
The Korea Badminton Association announced on Monday (October 14) that it would temporarily allow Olympic gold medalist Ahn Se-young to wear her own shoes.
“We’ve decided to make a temporary and limited exception for An’s shoes for the Denmark Open starting on Oct. 15 until we finish changing negotiation deals,” the BKA was quoted as saying by the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, on Monday.
quoted as said by:
According to JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of Korea JoongAng Daily, on this day, the Korea Badminton Association decided to “allow temporary, limited, and exceptional autonomy for Ahn Se-young’s competition from the Denmark Open, which begins on the 15th, until negotiations on contract changes are completed.” “I did it,” he said.
The BKA’s call comes after the association has drawn criticism for forcing players to wear Yonex shoes provided through a sponsorship deal with the association. An has repeatedly said that the shoes are uncomfortable and give her blisters.
repeatedly: several times
blister: blister
The Korean Badminton Association’s decision came after it received criticism for forcing players to wear Yonex shoes, which had a sponsorship contract with the association. Ahn Se-young has revealed several times that Yonex shoes are uncomfortable and cause blisters.
Lawmaker Min Hyung-bae forced BKA President Kim Taek-kyu to sit through a slideshow of images of An’s blistered feet during a hearing at the National Assembly on Sept. 24, which took place after the BKA was accused by An of mismanagement.
lawmaker: member of parliament
mismangement: doing something wrong, making a mistake
Min Hyeong-bae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, summoned Kim Taek-gyu, president of the Korea Badminton Association, to a question on pending issues in the National Assembly held on September 24 and showed him a photo of Ahn Se-young’s blistered feet. This inquiry was conducted after Ahn Se-young pointed out the association’s mishandling of matters.
Kim told lawmakers that he would revise the rule forcing players to use equipment designated by the association when training or competing in international tournaments.
revise: revise, revise
designate: designate
Chairman Kim told lawmakers that the association would amend its regulations that force athletes participating in training and international competitions to use designated equipment.
Under the current rule, players have no control over the shoes or rackets that they use, which can significantly impact their performance.
significantly: considerably, greatly
Under current rules, players do not have the authority to choose shoes or rackets that significantly affect their performance.
The rule forcing players to wear shoes provided by the BKA’s sponsor is not the only alleged problem within the BKA.
alleged: alleged
The issue raised against the Badminton Association is not only the regulation forcing players to wear shoes provided by the association’s sponsors.
An investigation launched by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism into the BKA after the Paris Olympics has so far uncovered inconsistencies in funding, discriminatory practices within business leagues and evidence of officials breaking their own policies to receive kickbacks.
uncover: find out, uncover
inconsistency: inconsistency, inconsistency, contradiction
discriminatory: discriminatory
business league: business league
kickback: bribe
In an audit conducted on the Badminton Association after the Paris Olympics, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism uncovered issues such as the association’s inconsistent prize money support, discriminatory policies within the unemployment league, and evidence of association personnel receiving bribes in violation of regulations.
WRITTEN AND TRANSLATED BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]
