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A view of Halla Gymnasium in Jeju Island where the taekwondo overseas Korean division matches of the 107th National Sports Festival were held on the 19th. / Jeju Correspondent Jeong Ri-na

In the overseas Korean division taekwondo matches of the 107th National Sports Festival, which championed harmony and exchange, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's (KSOC) inconsistent application of regulations and clumsy on-site handling have come under intense scrutiny. While making an exception to permit weight category changes for an athletic delegation from a specific country, it abruptly cancelled an "exhibition match"—which athletes unable to hold an official match due to a lack of participants had agreed to contest for the spirit of participation—just one hour before it was set to begin.

According to reporting by Asia Today on the 22nd, an exhibition match in the women's under-49kg event in the overseas Korean division of the National Sports Festival taekwondo competition held in Jeju Island on the 19th was abruptly cancelled one hour before its scheduled start.

Initially, overseas Korean athletes from three countries—Vietnam, Japan, and Indonesia—completed entry registration for this weight class. However, during weigh-ins conducted on the 18th, the day before the competition, the Indonesian athlete was disqualified for exceeding the weight limit, causing the minimum field requirement under competition rules to fall short due to an insufficient number of participants.

Accordingly, at a representatives meeting of coaches and managers from each country held on the 18th, in consideration of athletes who traveled from distant foreign lands, it was decided to exclude the match from the official medal count but proceed with a head-to-head contest in the form of an exhibition match focused on the spirit of participation. The Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA), the governing body for the sport, also reaffirmed the consent of representatives from each country on site on the morning of the match and made a final decision to stage the contest.

However, with just one hour left before the match began, the situation took a sudden turn. The match was completely cancelled after the Regional Sports Department of the superior governing body, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, issued a directive instructing officials "not to stage matches outside the regulations." A Korea Taekwondo Association competition department official interviewed at the venue said, "When the superior body, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, makes a decision and hands it down, the association has no choice."

A KSOC official explained to this newspaper, "If the prescribed minimum number of participants is not met, a match in that weight class cannot officially materialize and therefore cannot proceed. Even if exhibition matches were conducted in the past in consideration of fostering harmony among overseas Koreans, safety issues exist, such as being ineligible for insurance coverage in the event of an accident, which is why we notified them to follow basic principles and not proceed."

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The roster of the U.S. taekwondo delegation registered on the official website of the 107th National Sports Festival. Two athletes, surnamed Lim and Lee, are listed in the women's open division over-67kg category, but in the actual competition, their weight classes were adjusted so that they competed separately in the over-67kg and under-67kg categories. / Captured from the National Sports Festival website

The problem is that the "principles" put forward by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) were applied differently to a specific country. Under tournament regulations, two athletes from the same country cannot compete in the same weight class, nor can weight classes be changed after the application deadline. However, according to reporting by this newspaper, the U.S. taekwondo delegation initially submitted duplicate entries for two athletes in the over-67kg category, but later switched one athlete to the under-67kg category, allowing both to compete. One of them even won a medal.

According to a Korea Taekwondo Association official, as confusion arose during the weight adjustment process while accommodating the U.S. delegation, the KSOC belatedly instructed officials "not to exercise any more flexibility in taekwondo matches and proceed strictly by the book," which sparked the sudden cancellation of the under-49kg exhibition match.

Domestic and foreign coaches and athletes on site dismissed the post-deadline weight class change as "unacceptable and absurd." One official remarked, "Switching to compete in the under-67kg class itself makes no sense. Since the athlete failed to make weight for the initially registered over-67kg class, disqualification was the proper course."

An official from an overseas athletic delegation protested, saying, "Allowing a specific country to compete by bending the rules while crushing an exhibition match that causes no harm to other athletes at the last minute—is this what the KSOC calls fair principles?"

Kim Jung-sik, president of the Korean Taekwondo Association in Vietnam, also criticized the decision, saying, "The exhibition match was an already agreed-upon matter and was reaffirmed on the morning of the competition. For the KSOC to overturn it with a single phone call one hour before the match was inconsiderate toward the national representatives and overseas Korean athletes."

Such on-site handling also ran counter to the spirit of this tournament, which emphasized solidarity with overseas Koreans. President Lee Jae-myung called for support during the opening ceremony on the 16th so that overseas Koreans could "participate in domestic sports events without discrimination," and Kim Kyeong-hyup, Commissioner of the Overseas Koreans Agency, also highlighted the National Sports Festival as "a precious opportunity for compatriots to meet in their homeland, share friendships, and maintain bonds with their motherland."

Due to the belated cancellation notice, the athletes also lost the opportunity to seek other alternatives. Had they been notified of the match's cancellation immediately after weigh-ins, they could have explored adjustments to compete in an adjacent weight category, such as the over-49kg division.

Athlete A, an overseas Korean who had prepared for this competition in Vietnam, could not hide her devastation. A, who took up taekwondo after entering university and continued training in Vietnam for nearly 20 years, traveled to Jeju at her own expense, covering airfare and other costs. Her family, including her husband and daughter, also traveled to Jeju to watch her compete, only to return home empty-handed after receiving the cancellation notice one hour before the match.

A lamented, "I was not hoping for a medal or an official record; my sole wish was simply to stand once on the mats of my homeland's National Sports Festival, which I had dreamed of for so long." She added, "How can they tell us to prepare for the match until the morning of the event and then cancel it right before it starts? There was neither an adequate explanation for the cancellation nor an opportunity to discuss any alternatives."

                                                                                                              Jeong Ri-na