Organizers criticized for assigning referee involved in corruption scandal

By Yoon Sung-won

GWANGJU _ The Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee (GUOC) has triggered controversy after assigning a judo referee who has been implicated in a corruption scandal.

Ahn Byung-keun, a professor at Yongin University’s department of judo instructor education, appeared as the referee in the men’s judo -100 kilogram event between Estonia’s Grigori Minaskin and Kazakhstan’s Viktor Demyanenko at the Yeomju Bitgoeul Gymnasium, Saturday.

The National Police Agency said last month that Ahn has been indicted without detention for taking part in irregularities such as match fixing and embezzlement.

Ahn, a gold-medal winning judoka at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, has also faced charges for helping 18 unqualified judokas under his tutorship join the National Sports Festival in exchange for 110 million won, according to the police.

The GUOC said it will not assign Ahn for the remaining events.

“We have discussed with the referee committee and decided not to assign him in the future,” Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee (GUOC) Press Secretary You Ji-hyun said during a press briefing at the media center in the Kimdaejung Convention Center in western Gwangju, Sunday.

The organizing committee also explained that Ahn had been named as a referee before the scandal emerged.

“Judo referees were assigned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) based on the recommendation by the International Judo Federation. Ahn became one of the referees because of the judo federation and the FISU has completed a recommendation and registration procedure beforehand,” the GUOC spokeswoman said.

However, the organizing committee is facing mounting criticism that it acted belatedly after Ahn appeared on a judo event as the referee.

Asked if the committee plans a thorough investigation on referees in other sport events, she said: “We have followed the given regulations and will check once again to prevent similar cases repeated in the remainder of the sporting event.”