As the government began to investigate the circumstances surrounding the controversy over poor player management between ‘Shuttlecock Emperor’ Ahn Se-young (22, Samsung Life Insurance) and the Korea Badminton Association, it was confirmed that all executives of the Badminton Association who traveled with her to the Paris Olympics used the association’s operating funds as the source of airfare.
This is in stark contrast to the fact that executives from the Archery, Table Tennis, and Shooting Federations, who achieved remarkable results at the recent Olympics, used their own money to buy flights. From 2019 to last year, the Badminton Association president and executives did not donate a single penny in ‘donations’, one of the main sources of income for domestic sports associations, which is expected to spark controversy.
According to an analysis of the ‘Status of Support for Aviation for Participating Sports Groups in the 2024 Paris Olympics’ submitted by the Korea Sports Council to the office of Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kang Yoo-jung on the 24th, all eight executives belonging to the Badminton Association used the association’s operating expenses as the source of airfare.
At the recent Paris Olympics, the Korea Archery Association, which swept all the gold medals in each event, had 10 out of 12 executives pay for their flights with their own money, while the Korea Shooting Federation, which achieved the best results ever, had its president pay for the flights of the remaining three executives with his own money.
In the Korea Table Tennis Association, 1.5 out of 4 executives (Vice President, 50% paid by individual + 50% paid by the association), and in the Korea Swimming Federation, only 1 out of 3 executives paid for airfare with the association’s operating expenses.
However, ironically, these associations, including the Archery Association, had a budget (as of 2023) that was less than that of the Badminton Association, ranging from about 6.5 billion won to as much as 17 billion won.
It was also discovered that the Badminton Association’s president and executives did not make any donations, which were considered one of the association’s main sources of income, for five years from 2019 to last year. Given the nature of domestic sports associations, it is difficult to operate the association solely with subsidies such as the National Sports Promotion Fund and local government funds.
That is why most associations receive donations from various sectors and earn business income through hosting and broadcasting competitions and sponsorships. In the case of sports where the president of the association is a large corporation, the president’s donations often cover most of the association’s expenses.
According to the ‘Financial Income and Expenditure Status’ of the 65 member sports organizations of the Korea Sports Council, all donation items of the Badminton Association were recorded as ‘0 won’ for the five years from 2019 to 2023. This is in contrast to most other sports participating in the Olympics, which receive donations to support their athletes.
Korea Archery Association President Chung Eui-sun (Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group) donated 8.3 billion won this year, increasing the amount donated from last year (6.6 billion won).
The budget management was also lacking. The Badminton Association’s financial self-sufficiency rate was 22.79% in 2019, 23.57% in 2020, 20.54% in 2021 (average 43.54%), 45% in 2022 (average 62.24%), and 46.73% in 2023 (average 53.89%), recording low figures compared to high income.
In contrast, the Korea Shooting Federation received 500 million won in donations from inside and outside the association to operate its budget, recording a financial self-sufficiency rate of 58.14%.
The Badminton Association is controversial because it has no donations and only has dozens of executives. Kim Taek-gyu, the president of the Badminton Association who took office in 2021, is not an elite athlete but a recreational athlete. The executives include representatives of fisheries companies and dentists. Until the 2000s, the Badminton Association received support from the Daekyo Group.
Rep. Kang Yoo-jung said about this, “The Badminton Association has a problem with the attitude of its executives who are too old-fashioned and authoritarian,” and “In particular, the fact that there is zero won in sponsorship money is disappointing because (the association) has many shortcomings, for example, from the perspective of someone who thinks that all welfare and benefits should go to the players first.”
(Seoul = News 1)
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2024-08-24 00:25:14