It has been confirmed that the Korean Equestrian Association requested the athletes to decide whether to participate on the premise of ‘paying their own expense’ for the transportation cost of the horse during the selection process for the representative of the Hangzhou Asian Games (AG).
An official of the Equestrian Association said on the 17th, “Through the board meeting on the 15th, it was decided to impose the condition that the players must pay at least 100 million won for expenses such as transportation in order to participate in AG.”
This is due to the fact that the cost of transporting horses has increased more than before due to the nature of this event.
According to the association, the total cost of the event is estimated at up to 1.3 billion won, including transportation costs for horses. It has more than doubled from the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, which were about 500 million won.
This is because the Hangzhou AG Organizing Committee entrusted the air transport of the horses to a German agency that had an exclusive contract with them, so they had no choice but to use the route between Europe and Hangzhou to move the horses to the competition venue.
The Organizing Committee does not allow the plan to first move the horses to Shanghai or Hong Kong, where there are flights that can transport horses, and then to Hangzhou, due to quarantine reasons.
An official from the association explained, “We looked into the chartered flight, but it is said that the cost of the charter alone is close to 900 million won. Even when moving horses through Europe, the transportation cost is estimated to be over 800 million won.”
He continued, “(Security) will be prepared somehow even if it is only for the Jakarta and Palembang Games, but it is a difficult situation in reality.”토스카지노
In addition, the association explained through a separate statement that financial difficulties were aggravated by Kim Dong-seon, the third son of the Hanwha Group, who is famous for his love for horseback riding, and distanced himself from the horseback riding world after a media report in March.
The association said, “After Chairman Park Seo-young was elected last year, a large number of executives from Hanwha Next were dispatched to the association, so the equestrians had high expectations.” , Hanwha Group also drew a line saying that it would not support.”
In this regard, Hanwha Galleria said, “It is true that Kim has expressed a deep love for horseback riding, but he has never publicly disclosed or promised support for the association.”
Hwang Soon-won, president of the Korea Equestrian Association, said, “The Asian Games are what athletes set the highest goal in reality while exercising. Everyone trained hard, but I am disappointed that the association asked me to participate at my own expense.”
He said, “I should have looked into this situation in advance. The association announced it too late,” he said. “I hope the association will take a responsible attitude.”