The Korean Badminton Association has completely refuted the announcement of the interim results of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The Badminton Association released a press release on the 13th, saying, “The media and other organizations are unilaterally slandering the association and badminton organizations based on fragmentary content rather than looking at the overall operation of the association’s policies and systems.”
First of all, the association emphasized the operation, sponsorship, and overall results of the national team, saying, “The association did its best to support the 12-member national team led by head coach Kim Hak-kyun in preparation for the Paris Olympics.”
The association said, “In a situation where it is not a sport that is heavily sponsored by large corporations like other sports, the only company interested in sponsoring badminton events is badminton, and the association signed a national support contract with the company to send athletes to about 50 international competitions from last year to the Paris Olympics to support 12 athletes to qualify for the Olympics.”
The association said that a total of 3.49 billion won was spent on dispatching and training the national team during this period, with 870 million won in state subsidies and 2.61 billion won in general donations. “As a result, our badminton won one gold medal for Ahn Se-young and one silver medal for mixed doubles Kim Won-ho and Jung Na-eun at the Paris Olympics.”
“There was no time to celebrate, but what we should not forget is the coaches and on-site staff who silently helped behind the medal-winning athlete,” he said. “A total of 30 staff members, including coaches (8), trainers (4), video analysts (1), doctors (1), pre-courting (2), and training partners (14), supported the players.”
The association explained, “Although the association announced in pieces the association’s sponsorship contract as if it were forcing our national players to wear bad rackets and shoes, the association uses sponsor products and, in return, uses them to pay for the team’s training and dispatch of tournaments with revenue other than government subsidies. It is also the most commonly used product by the world’s top badminton players.”
“It is true that the 20% support and on-site bonuses paid to the national team were not paid, related to the distribution of donations to the national team and bonuses for participating in the tournament, but the rules for distribution to the national team were removed at a time when the contract was forced to sign a contract with a nearly 50% lower amount than the previous down payment due to the overall stagnation in the sports world at the time of the contract,” he said.
“However, the association spent the bonuses as a reward for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (120 million won), a reward for winning the 2022 World Women’s Organization (110 million won), a reward for winning the 2022 World Junior Championship (20 million won), and a reward for the Hangzhou Asian Games (130 million won).” 안전놀이터
The second part of the association’s rebuttal is the “Rise-up League” and the “Yu and Youth Club League” projects, which receive government subsidies. Earlier, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the head of the public offering project promotion committee, Taean County Badminton Association, signed a contract to supply sponsored goods to the sponsor without the employees’ knowledge, while purchasing goods to the sponsor led by Chairman Kim Taek-kyu and the chairman of the public offering project promotion committee appointed by Chairman Kim in 2023.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, shuttlecocks and racquets received are 150 million won, and if the chairman of the public offering business promotion committee arbitrarily allocates regional supplies, the sponsor will ship them to the local badminton association, and about 40 million won worth of supplies were distributed only to the Taean County Badminton Association, which belongs to the chairman of the public offering business promotion committee.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced, “In 2024, the chairman and the association’s secretariat signed a written contract to receive about 140 million won worth of sponsored goods from sponsors, and it is still distributed arbitrarily without official procedures such as official letters, and is partially used as souvenirs at the general meeting of delegates unrelated to the purpose of the subsidiary project.”
In this regard, the association explained, “In connection with the project, we signed a sponsorship contract with equipment companies to receive supplies at a lower price for ‘shipment prices’ and signed a contract to receive additional 30% of the purchase as badminton supplies.”
The association then stressed, “As some reports say, the president of the association has never received illegal rebates, and any embezzlement or breach of trust without a clear basis will be a clear defamation and will be held legally responsible in the future.”
Meanwhile, the Badminton Association said, “The guidelines for the operation of the national team, the method of selecting the national team, the participation in international competitions for non-national athletes, the down payment rules for unemployed athletes, and the standing judgment system will be announced through the association, related committees, and public hearings if necessary.”
The association said, “We are collecting opinions from related agencies and athletes on the mention of the association’s operation and system improvement after the Paris Olympics, and we will announce the final position through the announcement of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s comprehensive results and the association’s own consultation,” adding, “We ask for everyone’s cooperation so that many badminton lovers can enjoy badminton in peace and that our national badminton team, which should be celebrated, can focus on training as soon as possible.”
