The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will launch a full-fledged investigation into the Badminton Korea Association.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 12th that it will launch an investigation into Ahn Se-young (22, Samsung Life Insurance)’s sniping remarks toward the Badminton Association shortly after she won the gold medal in the women’s singles at the Olympics.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism already said in a press release on the 6th, “We will find out the details of Ahn Se-young’s media interview,” adding, “As soon as the Olympics are over, we will grasp the exact facts and review the need for appropriate improvement measures according to the results.”
World No. 1 Ahn Se-young beat No. 9 He Bing Zhao of China 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) in the women’s singles final at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the Port de la Chappelle Stadium in Paris, France on the 5th.
However, immediately after the game, Ahn Se-young shocked her by pointing out problems with injury management, player training support, the association’s decision-making system and participation in the competition.
After winning two gold medals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Ahn Se-young became the gold medalist in the women’s singles at the Olympics for the first time in 28 years since the winner of the 1996 Atlanta Games.
As of 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is providing 7.12 billion won in subsidies to the Korean Badminton Association. This investigation has the legal nature of conducting office inspections in accordance with the rules of establishment and supervision of non-profit corporations under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and checking the status of subsidized projects in accordance with the subsidy management law.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to investigate the Korea Badminton Association, focusing on what Ahn Se-young mentioned in the interview.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, “We will not only understand the circumstances of the controversial injury management, doubles-oriented training, and suspicions of forcing athletes to participate in the competition, but also comprehensively examine the system-related issues and the execution and operation of subsidies by the association. We will look into the fairness of the national team selection process, the efficiency of training and support for participation in the competition, whether the association’s sponsorship contract method is balanced between the association and the players, the rationality of the international competition restriction system for athletes in badminton, and whether there is anything unreasonable about the player’s salary system.”
The main institutional improvements to be examined by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism are ▲First, the fairness of the national team selection process, and the efficiency of training and support for competition appearance. In addition, we also look at the necessity of personal trainers to participate in the national team training course, which is not clearly regulated in most sports, including badminton, but is prohibited by practice. ▲2nd, the association’s sponsorship contract method is ‘whether there is a balance between the association and the players’. ▲3rd, it is the rationality of the system for restricting players in badminton sports to participate in international competitions. Fourth, is whether there is any irrationality in the player’s salary system. 안전놀이터
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, “We plan to use this survey as an opportunity to fully collect opinions on various pending issues that have been raised and to come up with future-oriented measures that can spread not only to badminton but also to the development of other sports.”
The investigation team will be led by the director of the sports bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and will consist of at least 10 people, including officials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Ethics and investigators from the Sports Ethics Center. Lee Jung-woo, the director of the investigation team, said, “Not only Ahn Se-young but also any of our players can say what they want to say. Listening to the players’ voices is a natural attitude that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and sports organizations should have,” adding, “The fundamental question of this survey is whether the association is doing its job for the players.”