Wando-gun, Key Points to Watch 'Kendo' at the 62nd Jeonnam Sports Festival

Held at Nohwa High School from May 13 to 14

The "62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival," a sports festival for the unity of 2 million Jeollanam-do residents, will be held in Wando-gun for four days from May 12 to 15.

According to Wando-gun on the 2nd, the organizing committee of the 62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival is introducing the rules and viewing points of each sport every week so that residents and spectators can enjoy the games more interestingly.

The 42nd Jeollanam-do Governor's Kendo Competition was held in Haenam in 2022.
[Photo by Wando-gun]

The sport introduced this time is "Kendo."

Kendo is known not only to improve physical health and agility through training but also to be a sport that values "etiquette," bringing positive effects on mental aspects such as patience and self-control.

Kendo players wear protective armor called "Hogu" and use bamboo swords of a certain length and weight. Valid strikes are recognized when the player hits the valid target areas with precise striking movements accompanied by a spirited shout.

The valid striking areas are the head, wrist, neck, and waist. The head area includes the upper left and right sides of the head above the ears; the wrist area is the right wrist part of the forearm; the neck area includes the entire neck.

The Kendo competition of the 62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival will be held over two days from May 13 to 14 at Nohwa High School, with about 200 players from 22 cities and counties participating in a tournament-style team competition (7-player team match).

In particular, Kendo, along with soccer, is one of the only two sports among 24 events held on an island, so it is expected to provide a special experience for island residents as well.

The participants consist of up to 10 players excluding the director and coach, composed of 2 high school players, 2 female players, and 6 university and general division players.

Eligibility requires being a native of Jeollanam-do, holding a membership card of the Korea Kendo Federation, and having completed player registration for 2023. Players from business teams, workplace teams, military teams, school teams from other cities or provinces, and centrally registered players in the sport are not allowed to participate.

In last year's 61st competition, the rankings were 1st place Muan, 2nd place Suncheon, and joint 3rd place Mokpo and Yeonggwang. In the 58th competition in 2019, the rankings were 1st place Muan, 2nd place Suncheon, and 3rd place Gwangyang and Hwasun.

The competitions in 2020 and 2021 were canceled due to COVID-19.

In the 62nd competition, attention is focused on whether Muan-gun and Suncheon-si, who have competed for the championship every year, will battle again for the title or if a new dark horse will emerge to cause an upset.

The host, Wando-gun, had disappointing results being eliminated in the preliminaries in the 58th competition in 2019 and the 61st competition in 2022, but it is expected to achieve good results by leveraging the home advantage in the 62nd competition.

Meanwhile, Wando-gun is making thorough preparations to make the festival a celebration enjoyed by residents and to become a sports tourism city by expanding the base of community sports through the reorganization of sports facilities.

Wando = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Choi Kyung-pil ckp6737@asiae.co.kr