Local athletes asked to miss World University Games in Korea

South Korea’s Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak has apparently resulted in Macau’s withdrawal from the World University Games (Universiade) to be held in Gwangju next month. Some of the members from the sporting delegation have been notified of the trip’s cancelation.
However, whether or not the entire delegation would not be participating in what is often referred to as a smaller version of the Olympic Games remains unconfirmed. The Times contacted the Sport Development Board (ID)
to confirm the cancelation, but no reply was given before press time.
Local athletes who were expected to be competing in swimming, athletics, badminton and judo events have already been told by their instructors that they will not be participating in the Universiade, Vong Chi Ieng, a judo competitor disclosed during an phone interview. The biennial event is scheduled to be held from July 3 to 14.
“The government firstly contacted our coach, then he let us know verbally,” she said. “Many of the other categories have also been called off.”
Vong also said that most of her fellow sportsmen and sportswomen were rather concerned by the highly contagious flu in Korea, which has so far resulted in the deaths of at least 24 people. “We’re actually quite worried about the situation there and the [cancelation] news came out late. We have been closely paying attention to [the outbreak],” said the university student.
In a separate phone interview, Miss U, a swimming instructor from the Swimming Association of Macau, told the Times that local swimmers would be absent from the games and “most likely Macau’s team would not attend.”
Lei On Kei, who previously won a medal at the 2012 Asian Swimming Championships, wrote on her blog that there would still be opportunities to participate in the games during her university life despite feeling regretful over the cancelation.
Macau is not alone in its decision to withdraw from the South Korean competition. The South China Morning Post reported that one-third of the 100-member Hong Kong team have also withdrawn from next month’s World University Games because of the MERS outbreak.
According to the SCMP coverage, athletes from the neighboring special administrative region said that the University Games posed a threat to their future presence in other major competitions.
Gwangju is the leading city of the Honam region, which has gained attention due to its status as a hub for cutting-edge industry and culture, and as a core middle city leading the development of South Korea’s southwestern region.
The games’ official webpage mentions that the Universiade is an international multisporting event organized by FISU (International University Sports Federation). Alternating between the Summer and Winter Universiades, the games are organised every even-numbered year. The first FISU World University Championships was organised in the city of Lund (Sweden) in 1963.
To be eligible to participate in the Universiade, athletes should be undergraduate or graduate students between the ages of 17 and 28 as of January 1 of the year the Universiade is being held or have graduated in the year immediately preceding the year of the event. The organizers stress that, according to their calculations, “48 percent of Olympic medalists are also Universiade medalists.” Staff reporter

pyongyang boycotts games

north Korea has scrapped plans to attend next month’s University Games in South Korea to protest the opening of a U.N. human rights office in Seoul, South Korean officials said yesterday. The boycott shows that the U.N. office tasked with monitoring the North’s alleged abysmal rights violations will be another source of animosity on an already tense Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang, which considers any criticism of its human rights a U.S.-led campaign to topple its government, has called the office a grave provocation and threatened unspecified retaliation.