'Drunk driving immediately after winning championship' An Hye-jin, national team selection derailed... KOVO initiates disciplinary proceedings

*This content was translated by AI.

An Hye-jin (28, GS Caltex), a key setter in the women's volleyball semi-finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will surrender her national team jersey due to drunk driving.

According to the Korea Volleyball Association on the 18th, An Hye-jin, whose drunk driving was revealed the previous day, was ultimately excluded from the women's national volleyball team roster this year.

An Hye-jin informed her team of the incident immediately after being caught for drunk driving on the morning of the 16th. In response, GS Caltex issued an apology through its official social media on the 17th. Police investigations are currently underway.

She was a starting setter who contributed to South Korea's advancement to the semi-finals during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Although she had been sidelined by frequent injuries recently, she played a decisive role in helping her team, GS Caltex, win the championship finals in the second half of this season.

She became a free agent (FA) after the season ended and was named to the national team roster on the 16th, but all plans were derailed by this incident. Originally, she was scheduled to join the national team on the 26th to prepare for the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup and the Asian Games.

With the drunk driving confirmed, An Hye-jin will be ineligible to play for the national team for at least two years. Under the regulations of the Korean Olympic Committee and the Volleyball Association, a fine of 50 million won or more results in a three-year ban, while a fine of less than 50 million won results in a two-year ban on national team eligibility.

The Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO) is also initiating disciplinary proceedings. According to Article 10, Section 1, Item 1 of the federation's disciplinary regulations, penalties for misconduct such as drunk driving range from a minimum warning to maximum expulsion, with disciplinary fines of 5 million won or more imposed.

According to the Volleyball Federation, the schedule for the disciplinary committee is expected to be decided next week. The federation plans to comprehensively evaluate the police investigation results, the severity of negligence, and the degree of remorse to determine the final disciplinary level within the established sentencing guidelines.

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*This content was translated by AI.