"I'll make a sports world with athletes and leaders at the center."Oh Joo-young, president of the Korea Sepak Takraw Association, announces his candidacy for the chairman of the Korea Sports and Olympic Committee."

Nov 29, 2024

Oh Joo-young, president of the Korea Sepak Takraw Association. Photo courtesy = Joo-young Oh

"A person who doesn't owe anything to sports. "

Oh Joo-young (39), chairman of the Korea Sepak Takraw Association, officially announced on the 29th that he will run for the 42nd president of the Korea Sports Council, saying, `We will clean up the deep-rooted evils of the sports world and complete the sports world in which the leader is respected.'

Chairman Oh announced his intention to run for office in a press release on the same day, saying, `I will make physical education centered on the field by eliminating corrupt and incompetent people who do not care about the voices of the field but only use athletes and leaders," he stressed.

In particular, Chairman Oh said, `Korea's sports leaders are the most important people that cannot be left out of the nation's sports ambassador,' adding, `However, leaders have never been at the center in sports in Korea", he pointed out.

He said "Korea Sports Council, member sports organizations, city?The Sports Association is said to be for athletes and leaders for sports development, but the highest level of power only puts their safety first. "It is common to worry about the existence of the school sports department and that the team will be disbanded whenever local power is replaced. He criticized, "There is only the agony of worrying about the family's right to live with a tight salary."

Chairman Oh said, `It is said that the Korean Sports Council has become a monster, but there are no athletes and leaders responsible for the process of becoming a monster"The Korean Sports Council has lost its ability to self-purify, and the person who made it is the problem. He pointed out that the Korean Sports Council did not become a monster because of its powerful authority, but that a monster wielded its powerful authority."

Chairman Oh stressed that he is the right person to create a sports world centered on athletes and leaders.

"I didn't win a medal at the Olympics, I didn't graduate from a particular athletic university, I was not a professor of physical education," he said. "I was criticized for not being able to raise an athlete myself, and for being a person who lacks experience in physical education due to lack of professional life, but this proves that I don't owe anything to physical education" he stressed.

Oh said, `Those who don't owe anything to sports, the only right person who has no obstacle to the current sports reform in Korea,' adding, `My lack of legitimacy in sports policy will be filled with leaders. I will place people in the field where they can do well," he stressed.

Finally, he also expressed his ambition to become the president of the Korea Sports Council closest to the athletes and leaders, not the presidents of affiliated organizations where cartels are formed.

Photo = Courtesy of Oh Joo-young

Chairman Oh said, `In the 104 years of physical education in Korea, physical education has never been an era of chaos like now`Now that public trust has fallen due to bad people trying to use politics for power and protect their influence, we need someone who can lower barriers and reach out to athletes and leaders, not those who consider the KOC as their playground under the name of service,' he said.

Chairman Oh was elected president of the Korea Sepak Takraw Association in 2021 after serving as president of Daejeon University's student council and president of Daejeon City Sepak Takraw Association. Since then, he has been elected vice president of the Asian Federation and vice president of the International Federation.

bellstop@sportschosun.com