Korea to review badminton star An Se-young's claims of mistreatment at national team

The Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism has announced that it will review the issues raised by badminton player An Se-young after the Paris Olympics

Korean badminton player An Se-young competes in the women's singles final against China’s He Bingjiao at the Paris Olympics at La Chapelle Arena in Paris on Monday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday it will review whether it needs to take action after badminton player An Se-young floated the idea of quitting the Korean national team after winning gold at the Paris Olympics Monday.

The Culture Ministry’s statement comes after An said Monday after winning gold in the women’s singles contest that she is unsure whether she wants to continue playing for Korea after the national team allegedly mishandled an injury she picked up last fall.

“My injury was more severe than I thought, and I was a little disappointed about the national team who did not consider it as a big deal at all,” An told reporters at La Chapelle Arena in Paris on Monday. “I even thought that it would be a little difficult to work with the national team from this point on. I have to talk with them and see, but I am very disappointed. I hope there will be a day when I can explain about it in detail.”

She picked up an injury during the women’s singles final at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, after which she said she went through a tough time preparing for the Olympics.

“After the Asian Games ended, when I couldn’t play due to injury, I argued with coaches, cried and expressed frustration,” An said. “[Right after picking up the injury], I still played while putting up with the pain, and the injury got worse when I reexamined it at the end of last year. I put up with the pain and still trained as I didn’t have much time until the Olympics. I was able to get here as my training instructor helped me.”

She did not stop there and also pointed out other problems in a post-match press conference.

“Not being able to play in the Olympics for exiting the national team is heartless for players,” An said. “I think the association is blocking everything in the name of freedom. And we should look at the fact that there was only one gold medal from badminton when Korea could do better.”

The Culture Ministry said in Tuesday’s press release that it will also see if there are issues within other sports that need to be improved.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]