Sports Ethics Center Suspicion of Changing National Team Players Warning (Official)

Apr 14, 2025

The Sports Ethics Center under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has requested an institutional warning to the Korea Table Tennis Association over the alleged change of national team.

The Sports Ethics Center said in a press release on the 14th that the reporter recommended female athlete A as the national team through the Korea OO Association's performance improvement committee (hereinafter referred to as the "Korea Performance Improvement Committee"), but the chairman of the performance improvement committee (hereinafter referred to as "the accused") ignored the procedure after the end of the committee and changed the player to B instead of A is a clear corruption in which the rights and interests of the players, leaders, and the team were violated. The accused then explained that while it was true that the committee discussed evaluation data and finally decided to recommend A as a national team member, he called each member and agreed to change it to B considering the international ranking, selection performance, and social issues.

The press release dealt with sports organizations as Anonymous, but the information has already been raised several times by opposing candidates who blocked the election of the president of the Korea Table Tennis Association last year and the election of the president of the Korea Sports Association this year. Chairman Yoo Seung Min actively explained and refuted the allegations through an emergency press conference at the time when he was a candidate, and the results of the investigation by the Sports Ethics Center were announced on the same day.

The center's deliberation committee confirmed that Player A was recommended by the Kyunghyang Committee in accordance with Article 8 (1) of the "National Team Selection and Operation Regulations", but after the meeting, the respondent was told by the president of the association that the B grade was ahead of A and changed the recommended player to B. In the process, the respondent did not reopen or re-deliberate the Kyunghyang Committee, and no data were confirmed that could be documented or considered to have obtained the consent of other members after changing players from A to B. In addition, in the case of the men's national team recommended by the same committee, it was considered that it was no different from selecting players by double standards because players with lower rankings in the selection match were recommended. After that, the board of directors of the association decided to select the changed B as the women's national team, and two days later, the results of the selection were announced on the website. Although the change of the women's national team A to B is justified, the center's deliberation committee ignored regulations and procedures, judging that it constitutes an abuse of authority under Article 25 (1) 1 of the association's Sports Fair Committee Regulations, it was considered a "disciplinary requirement". However, the disciplinary prescription has ended because the report was filed three years after the time of the act at the time of selection for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. It was decided to issue an institutional warning to the association because it was determined that it did not fulfill its duty of supervising the management and supervision of the relevant regulations and procedures, such as 'National Representative Selection and Operation Regulations' Article 8.

The Sports Ethics Center said "Corruption in selecting national athletes is a serious fish comparable to match fixing. In the future, the center will not only determine whether serious corruption is disciplined, but also examine whether it violates punishment. "If it is confirmed that the punishment has been violated, we will take active measures such as requesting an investigation." he said. "Considering the circumstances of victims who failed to report immediately after the corruption was found, the Center will conduct a fair investigation to create the right sports environment and protect athletes so that unfair athletes can no longer be found."," he added.

Meanwhile, on January 13, a day before the presidential election, Yoo Seung Min, the president of the Korean Sports Council, held an emergency press conference to respond to allegations raised by competitors and actively explained the suspicion of `switching players.' Chairman Yoo can't help but resent the words "Changing Players" in themselves"I was the first to speak out as a member of the IOC athletes committee when it came to our athletes." I spoke out with a sense of duty without being daunted by any pressure." While presenting data at the Tokyo Olympics, candidate Yoo recommended ranking selection, not recommendation, because there was a petition regarding the selection of representatives for the Badminton Association at the time. The Tokyo Olympics has been re-selected due to COVID-19, so we decided to have one recommendation, but we decided to be as fair as possible and set up a separate recommendation committee. " Candidate Yoo asked "Who is recommended among the players ranked 2nd and 3rd in the final rankings, 1st and 2nd in the recommendation committee, 64th and 106th in the world?" and "As a result of the performance improvement committee, a player different from what you think came up, and I asked the head of the Korean trend committee, and the women's national team coach wanted this player." I heard that the atmosphere of the Kyunghyang Committee meeting was tense. 'No matter who looks at it, the results are not convincing to the public. Unfair' asked for reconsideration with the point"Is it the abuse of the chairman's authority to ask him to reconsider?" he said. "According to the government, it is said that if the committee recommends and selects a representative, the final decision will be made by the president of the association. If this right of the president of the association in the articles of association had not been utilized, it would have been a big issue." Chairman Yoo apologized to the two junior and disciple players, saying, `All the players are grateful to me. Both players are active players. They also have a good relationship with me. So far, I have endured negative attacks without saying anything. But you shouldn't use this word as much as 'switching players'"I don't do negatives, but I confirm the facts from the idea that a strong response is needed."," he once said.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.