Heavy rain threatens outdoor events
By Baek Byung-yeul
Heavy rain is expected to hit Gwangju and the surrounding area this week and may affect outdoor events at the ongoing Gwangju Universiade, such as baseball, golf, tennis, rowing and archery.
According to the Gwangju Regional Meteorological Administration, Monday, the city and nearby regions in South Jeolla Province are expected to see 30 to 80 millimeters of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday as these areas will be affected by typhoons Chan-Hom and Linfa.
A Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee (GUOC) official said there would be no time changes of open air events during the rainy days.
“We have been monitoring the weather forecast thoroughly, and event areas for the Universiade are expected to be hit by heavy rain Tuesday through Thursday. However, there will be no time changes for the outdoor games,” GUOC Press Secretary You Ji-hyun said during a press briefing at the media center in the Kimdaejung Convention Center in western Gwangju, Monday.
The official said the tennis event will be mostly affected by the rain, and in the case of heavy rain, matches will be moved to the Yeomju Indoor Tennis Court.
“When it rains, tennis games will be played inside. The event will take longer as we only have four inside courts,” You said. “Also, golf will proceed as scheduled unless there is thunder and lightning.
“Frankly, we are not happy to see heavy rain during the events, but we will be flexible in responding to weather changes. We talked with weather specialists and we will minimize the damage,” You added.
The GUOC said there would be no problem for rowing events, which will be wrapped up by Tuesday. The rowing events currently take place at Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, some 280 kilometers north of Gwangju and rain is expected to hit the area late Tuesday.
For track and field, archery and baseball events, the GUOC will keep those events rolling as scheduled regardless of rain, but will authorize officials at the event scenes to adjust times at their own discretion.
Five final matches for the recurve archery events will be held at the Gwangju International Archery Center Wednesday.
The baseball games which kicked off at the Gwangju Mudeung Baseball Stadium and the Gwangju-Kia Champions Field Monday will be suspended in the case of rain and resume the following day. Korea is scheduled to have its group A matches against France, Tuesday, and China, Wednesday.