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Korean handball players staged a demonstration in front of the Embassy of Kuwait on Monday to protest against what they say was a series of unfair decisions making Korea the victim of match rigging.
Around 100 male and female handball players belonging to the Doosan Construction & Engineering, Hana Bank, Incheon Urban Development Corporation and Korea National Sport University clubs and executives from the Korea Handball Federation visited the embassy in Yongsan, Seoul. They urged the small Gulf nation to correct the referee's unfair decisions against Korean teams in the 2006 Doha Asian Games and recent elimination matches for the Beijing Olympics.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, commissioner of the International Olympic Committee and chairman of the Asia Handball Federation, is a member of Kuwait¡¯s ruling family.
At a women's elimination match for the Olympics, the Korean team was upset by decisions of referees from the Middle East in favor of the Kazakhstan team which resulted in Korea losing. In the men's elimination match with Kuwait in Japan on Saturday, the Korean team lost the game 20:28 due to a decision by the referee they say was ¡°extremely unfair.¡±
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Members of the Korea Handball Federation protest at the Embassy of Kuwait in Seoul on Monday.
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Originally, a German referee had been appointed to oversee the game, but he was suddenly replaced by a Jordanian. One Japanese spectator even threw a bottle into the arena to complain about unfair decisions.
Korea Handball Federation Vice President Kim Jin-soo and other executives tried to deliver a written protest to the Kuwait Embassy, but the mission declined to accept it saying it was not an official Korean government document and the embassy would have to wait for instructions from Kuwait. The players and officials withdrew after about one hour's demonstration.
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Korea Handball Federation Vice President Kim Jin-soo speaks to reporters in front of the Embassy of Kuwait in Yongsan, Seoul on Monday, where he was protesting against controversial decisions by referees. /Newsis
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"Kuwait's petrodollars are destroying Asian handball,¡± Kim said. ¡°We will deliver the written protest by mail." Korean Olympic Committee President Kim Jung-kil also decided to send a letter to AHF Chairman Al-Sabah to ask the IHF and the IOC for an investigation of the decisions.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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