Table tennis legend apologizes for drunken car crash

Former South Korean table tennis Olympic gold medalist Hyun Jung-hwa has apologized in writing for causing a drunken car accident on Wednesday.

Hyun said she “cannot forgive herself for the mistake” and felt “nothing but shame and regret.” She said she would “do the best she can to make up to the victim of the accident.”

A passenger in a taxi into which she crashed into early on Wednesday morning is in a hospital near the accident site, an intersection near Ori subway station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

Reports said Hyun, who led the entry of the Korean team at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games along with other retired athletes, has resigned as chief of the athletes’ village for the upcoming Incheon Asian Para Games. The organizing committee has accepted her resignation.

Hyun’s Jaguar hit a Grandeur taxi at about 12.50 a.m. after ignoring a traffic signal.

She had a 0.201 percent blood-alcohol reading, enough to lose her license.