By Kim Rahn
Two professional women volleyball players have admitted their involvement in an expanding game-rigging scam.
Prosecutors at the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office said Thursday they summoned the two players belonging to the Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders the previous day for questioning and the players admitted participating in the scheme.
It is the first match fixing case in women’s professional sports here. Their names were not disclosed.
“They were part of the game result fixing during the 2010-2011 season, but only for a few games. We plan to question them again as well as look into whether more players, men and women, were involved,” a prosecutor said.
The female players allegedly made deliberate mistakes to lose certain matches. Gambling site middlemen allegedly gave them 3 to 5 million won per game, a similar amount given to the male players who took part in fixing games, according to the prosecution.
With the scandal widening into almost all professional sports, two LG Twins pitchers were alleged to have been involved in match fixing, though they and their club deny this.
Prosecutors said arrested gambling middlemen have testified that two players currently on the team, Park Hyun-june and Kim Seong-hyun, took part in game rigging in the professional baseball league in 2010.
The middlemen reportedly said the pitchers deliberately walked batters in the first inning, as gamblers bet on teams reaching first base on balls pitched in the inning. They also said a former college baseball player based in Daegu asked the players to participate in the match fixing.
At that time, Park belonged to LG while Kim was with the Nexen Heroes. He moved to LG last July. “We don’t have any other proof of their involvement besides the middlemen’s testimony. We’ll launch an investigation into the alleged scheme in baseball when we have detailed evidence,” the prosecution said.
Regarding the allegation, LG Twins officials denied any involvement of their players.
“We think this is a very important matter for LG Twins and professional baseball. We value fair games above everything. On Feb. 14 and 15, team leader Baek Sun-gil and other officials went to Okinawa where players were in offseason training and interviewed those under suspicion, who said they were not involved,” the club said on its website.
It added it will cooperate with prosecutors if they investigate the club.
The Korea Professional Baseball Players’ Association released an apologetic statement over the recent allegations.
“If illegal gambling on matches took place and players were involved, we’ll actively cooperate with the prosecution, the Korea Baseball Organization and each team in order to sternly punish those involved,” the group said.
The association said anyone involved will have their membership dismissed, adding it will not protect anyone guilty of such charges.