Boxing Coaches Lament:
"Outstanding Results, Yet the Situation Remains Grim"
The local boxing community in Sejong City is raising objections and considering collective action after it was confirmed that boxing has been excluded from the Superintendent's Cup Sports Competition organized by the Sejong City Office of Education. Despite being an official Olympic sport worldwide and a formal event at both the National Sports Festival-often referred to as Korea's domestic Olympics-and the National Youth Sports Festival, boxing has not been designated as a sport in the local student competition.
According to the Sejong City Office of Education and the local boxing community on September 10, the Superintendent's Cup Sejong Student Sports Competition will be held in the community for one month starting from October 25. Athletes from 14 sports, including kendo, wrestling, roller sports, go, bowling, ice skating, swimming, ssireum, aerobics, track and field, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and fencing, will participate in the event.
Despite achieving outstanding results at national-level events such as the Korean Boxing Association President's Cup and the National Youth Sports Festival, and winning Sejong City's first-ever gold medal, boxing is not recognized as an official sport in the Superintendent's Cup Student Sports Competition, leading to complaints from the boxing community. Because Sejong City lacks specialized sports schools such as sports middle and high schools, some regular schools operate boxing teams with support from the Office of Education to foster athletes. As a result, only sports with school teams are eligible to compete in the Superintendent's Cup, and boxing, which does not have a school team, cannot participate in the event.
Representing the student athletes from Sejong City who participated in the National Youth Sports Festival, the Sejong City Sports Council selected boxing as the event, and Lee Seungmin, President of the Korean Sports Council, awarded the Most Valuable Player Award to athlete Park Taerang.
Until now, student boxers from Sejong City have trained at local boxing gyms to compete in the National Youth Sports Festival and have represented the region as official athletes. This year, with support from the Daegu Metropolitan City Boxing Association, they underwent intensive training at Daegu Physical Education High School to prepare for the festival. In reality, there is little institutional support due to the absence of school teams. Nevertheless, by focusing on their training, these athletes managed to win gold and silver medals at the National Youth Sports Festival-often called Korea's domestic Olympics-competing against students from specialized sports schools in other regions, according to the boxing community.
Although boxing is an official event at national competitions, its exclusion from the local student sports competition has sparked dissatisfaction. The frustration is heightened because, despite the absence of school teams, Sejong City's boxing athletes have won the city's first-ever gold and silver medals, yet the sport continues to be marginalized.
Boxing coaches commented, "It is a grim reality that Sejong boxing, which is gaining national recognition, still has to train without any school teams," adding, "It is devastating that we cannot even participate in the region's elite sports competition, the Superintendent's Cup, simply because our sport is not included as an official event."
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