Source:REUTERS/Ann Wang
[Saba Sports News] The Japanese media outlet “AFPBB News” has conducted an in-depth report on the incident where the talented young girl An Se-young won the gold medal in women’s singles badminton at the Paris Olympics and criticized the Korean Badminton Association. The media outlet mentioned that An Se-young, who is ranked first in women’s singles badminton in the world, earned about 900 million Korean won in salary and bonuses last season, equivalent to approximately 99 million Japanese yen, which is considered low among top international badminton players. For comparison, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, the 13th-ranked women’s singles badminton player from India, earned over 1 billion Japanese yen last year. “AFPBB News” pointed out that the root cause of An Se-young’s rebellion is not only the chaotic and strict management of the Korean Badminton Association, which fails to treat players as human beings, but also because An Se-young feels her income is too low. The reason for this discrepancy is that South Korea prohibits national team players from shooting advertisements or endorsements, while many other international top players do not have such restrictions. Therefore, in the process of criticizing the Korean Badminton Association, An Se-young expressed her hope that there could be more freedom in contract bonuses and annual salaries. In response to this, “AFPBB News” stated that badminton is a niche sport in South Korea, and allowing individuals to shoot advertisements and endorse products would lead to a decrease in attention and investment from sponsors towards junior leagues and junior athletes, which is not conducive to the long-term development of badminton in South Korea.