The national badminton federation said Thursday it has temporarily halted its internal probe into problems raised by the Olympic champion An Se-young.
The Badminton Korea Association (BKA) said the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had recently ordered it to suspend activities by its fact-finding committee, citing procedural issues.
The BKA’s committee held its first meeting last Friday after An accused the association and her national team of running inefficient and outdated operations, and of mishandling her knee injury last fall. An offered her criticism moments after winning the women’s singles gold medal at the Paris Games on Aug. 5.
Also last Friday, the sports ministry said the BKA had violated its own rules by forming the committee without prior approval from its board of directors.
Members of the fact-finding committee for the Badminton Korea Association hold a meeting at the Olympic Center in Seoul on Aug. 16, 2024, discussing problems raised by the Paris Olympic gold medalist An Se-young
. (Yonhap)
Members of the fact-finding committee for the Badminton Korea Association hold a meeting at the Olympic Center in Seoul on Aug. 16, 2024, discussing problems raised by the Paris Olympic gold medalist An Se-young. (Yonhap)
An official with the BKA said although the probe has been put on hold, it will not entirely abandon its investigation.
“Should the ministry ask for cooperation, members of our committee could be made available,” the official said.
After An lashed out at the BKA, the ministry and the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee launched separate investigations.
Before the ministry’s order, the BKA had reached out to An and tried to get her to attend its next meeting, but the player informed the association earlier this week that she would not be available.
In social media postings, An has insisted that she isn’t picking fights with anyone and doesn’t want to play the blame game, and that she just wants to have honest talks with the sport’s leaders over her experience.
Source: Yonha
p News Agency
