Months after gender debate, footballer sends Korea to World Cup

Korean forward Park Eun-seon vies for the ball in a Group B match against Thailand in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) women’s Asian Cup at Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Saturday. Korea routed Thailand 4-0 to secure a place in the 2015 World Cup finals in Canada. / Yonhap

Park Eun-seon, a footballer who recently weathered a controversy over her gender, has redeemed herself in style by dominating the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) women’s Asian Cup and qualifying the country for next year’s World Cup.

At the Asian Cup Group B match against Thailand on Saturday, Park scored three goals to lead Korea to a 4-0 win at Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Park scored twice in Korea’s 12-0 rout of Myanmar in the tournament opener last Thursday. The Korean women have secured at least a second-place finish in Group B, which also features China.

The Asian Cup doubles as a qualification round for the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, with the top five teams in the field of eight making the cut.

Park, a 1.8-meter forward with speed and finishing skills, is clearly one of Korea’s best players. However, she is coming off a traumatic personal experience.

In November, the head coaches from six other teams in the WK-League questioned Park’s gender and threatened to boycott this season if the 27-year-old continued to play for the Amazones.

As there was no legitimate reason for anyone to doubt Park was a woman, Seoul City accused its rivals of conspiring to sideline its best player for competitive reasons.

Facing a firestorm of criticism, which included a warning from the National Human Rights Commission, the coaches eventually withdrew their demand for Park’s exclusion.

Park’s masculine appearance had previously been a source of complaint ― she was forced to go through a gender test to compete in the 2004 Athens Olympics due to questions from other competing nations.

She planned to represent Korea in the 2010 Asian Cup, but excluded herself from the final roster following strong protests from host nation China. Park was then coming out of a five-year semi-retirement and claimed that her appearance did not warrant the distraction.

Shrugging off her recent gender row, Park is now ready to shine on her sport’s biggest stage.