Coach retorts gender suspicion on comeback female football prodigy

By Kim Hyun-cheol

Staff reporter

Park Eun-sun, a standout striker who came back to the pitch after a five-year-break, was ruled out from the South Korean female football team squad for the upcoming Asian Cup tournament due to poor physical condition.

The exclusion came only a couple of days after the Chinese team head coach said she will request a gender test on the player. Park's club coach, however, said the Chinese move was ``completely groundless.''

`` (Park) has already been tested and certified by FIFA years ago that she has no problem playing in women's competition. I just don't understand how come they didn't even check the record before making such irresponsible remarks,'' Seo Jung-ho, head coach of Park's club, Seoul City Amazones, told The Korea Times.

``It's just that she is not completely fit for playing at international tournaments after staying off-pitch for years. She is supposed to get a medical check-up this week.''

The Korea Football Association unveiled Monday the final 23-man roster for the competition to vie for berths to the next FIFA Women's World Cup, without Park and defender Kim Kyul-sil from the prep list.

Before the announcement, the 1.8-meter towering forward has been training with the national team at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

The national team head coach Lee Sang-yeop made clear that her ostensible "masculinity" isn't the cause for her exclusion.

"We agreed that her appearance at the Asian Cup will not really benefit her in the end," Lee said.

Park's comeback probably got the powerhouse China nervous. Its head coach Shang Ruihua said last week that she has urged authorities to have Park tested for her gender, in suspicion of her eligibility.

"If Park is participating in the Asian Cup, we will definitely appeal to the Asian Football Confederation to test her gender," Shang was quoted as saying by a local Chinese newspaper from Chengdu, the host city of the May 19-30 competition.

Park came back to games at this year's Women's K-League, where she has claimed three goals for the Amazones so far as a defender.

She rapidly shot to stardom in a short time in her three-year national team career. Making her national team debut at the age of 16, she scored 13 goals in 11 games as an international before announcing a sudden retirement in 2005 because of injuries and worsening trouble with her club and football-governing authorities.

In the 2004, she scored a hat-trick to lift South Korea to a 3-0 win over China at the 2004 AFC U-19 Women's Championship, putting the perennial powerhouse to humiliation. Netting a total of 15 goals in qualifiers and finals, Park became an indisputable MVP of the tournament.

At this year's Asian Cup, South Korea aims to be in top three to qualify for the Women's World Cup for its second appearance after the 2003 edition. In the group stage, it will play China, Australia and Vietnam in Group B.