By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
The Korea Handball Federation (KHF) will likely pay a fine to the Asian Handball Federation (AHF).
The Asian body imposed a $1,000 penalty on Korea and Japan for participating in a replayed Olympic qualifier in January.
The two countries were unsatisfied with controversial officiating at the original qualification tournament last September, so they appealed to the International Handball Federation (IHF) to replay the qualifier.
With only South Korea and Japan participating in the replay, the Korean men's and women's teams each won the qualifiers.
However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that only the men's replay would count, giving the Korean men an Olympic berth, while the women's team had to play additional tournaments to earn a spot in Beijing.
After the CAS' ruling, the AHF, which opposed the replay, pressed the KHF to pay the fine, sending an official document on March 24.
It says if the fine is not paid by April 5, the amount would be doubled and passing one more month would have Korean teams disqualified from any event organized by the AHF.
The AHF will sanction the Asian Men's Under-19 Championship and Asian Men's Under-21 Championship, both in July, and the Asian Women's Championship in December.
As the three competitions are qualifiers for the world championships, the KHF must agree to the upper body's request.
``We will have more talks, but we have agreed to pay $1,000,'' said Jeong Hyeong-gyoon, the executive director of the KHF. ``As two Korean teams have advanced to the Olympic finals, we don't have to maintain uneasy relationship with the AHF.''