Yoo Seung-min, President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, offers special encouragement to national team athletes in kabaddi and tech volleyball who are balancing their livelihoods with sports

*This content was translated by AI.

Yoo Seung-min (44), President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, offered special encouragement to athletes who prepared for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games while continuing their livelihoods in an environment where they could not devote themselves solely to sports.

Yoo Seung-min, President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, will provide special encouragement to South Korea's national team athletes and coaches competing in kabaddi and tech volleyball at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

This special encouragement was organized to recognize the efforts and challenges of athletes and coaches who prepared for the competition while balancing their livelihoods and sports careers, despite insufficient athlete participation bases and training infrastructure.

Kabaddi lacks sufficient professional teams and training infrastructure in Korea, so some athletes continue national team activities while balancing jobs and training. In fact, cases have been reported where national team athletes maintained their livelihoods while simultaneously preparing for training and competitions.

Tech volleyball also faced a lack of stable professional teams and dedicated training facilities, with athletes preparing for the competition while balancing their jobs and sports careers. Notably, athlete Lee Jun-seok quit his job to focus entirely on training in preparation for the Asian Games and won the gold medal in the men's singles event at this tournament, becoming the inaugural Asian Games tech volleyball champion.

Yoo Seung-min (Chairman) stated, "I am grateful to the athletes and coaches who are doing their best with pride in wearing the national emblem, even under difficult circumstances where they must balance livelihoods and training," and added, "Regardless of the scale or recognition of each sport, I will pay closer attention to voices from the field to ensure that national team athletes can train in more stable environments."

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee plans to closely monitor training conditions for each sport in the future and continue supporting national team athletes so they can challenge themselves on the international stage in even more stable environments.

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*This content was translated by AI.