Park Seo-young, the president of the Korean Equestrian Association, who came under fire for demanding that athletes pay more than 100 million won to be selected for the Hangzhou Asian Games, pleaded for the unavoidable circumstances.
Park released a hand-drawn cartoon on his social media account on Nov. 21 to explain the current situation. “I apologize for having to make the decision to send the athletes to compete at their own expense,” Park said, adding, “The athletes are the dream and future of Korean equestrianism, but the association cannot even support the reality.”
Earlier, the equestrian association revealed that it held a board meeting on the 15th and decided to impose a condition that athletes must pay at least 100 million won for transportation and other expenses to compete in the Asian Games.
“Horses for equestrian competitions at the Asian Games will not be allowed to enter Hangzhou directly,” Park said, “due to the transportation regulations set by the Asian Games Committee.”
According to the association, the Hangzhou Asian Games organizers have awarded an exclusive contract to a German agency to transport the horses to the venue, forcing them to fly between Europe and Hangzhou. The idea of flying the horses to Shanghai or Hong Kong first, where there are flights available, and then to Hangzhou, has been rejected by the organizers for quarantine reasons.
“The estimated cost of sending equestrian athletes is expected to be around KRW 1.3 billion for eight horses,” Park said, “which is more than the estimated cost of sending all athletes from other sports at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which is KRW 900 million.”
“The equestrian association has always suffered from a financial shortage since the ‘National Agricultural Organization’ crisis,” he said, adding, “We have not been able to pay the salaries of the secretariat staff until last year.”메이저놀이터
“The association is in charge of organizing various competitions and events in addition to supporting the AG, but it is not easy to hold competitions and support youth with the current budget,” he added.
“I would like to make a request to the government officials,” Park said, “I would like them to negotiate with the tournament organizers so that athletes do not have to travel to Hangzhou via Europe.”