South Korea’s national MMA team is set to compete at the inaugural AMMA Asia MMA Championships.
Taking place in Bangkok, Thailand from August 11-20, the event is organized by the Asian MMA Federation (President Gordon Tang, AMMA) under the auspices of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and hosted by the Thai MMA Federation (President Achilles Raleigh). It will serve as a qualifying event for the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition at the 6th Asian Games Indoor Championships in Bangkok-Chonburi, Thailand, from February 24 to March 6 next year. Sportspeople from around the world are flocking to this inaugural event to gain an edge in sports diplomacy through mixed martial arts.
The AMMA first held a four-day referee seminar and test from August 12 to 15. In South Korea, Kim Sung-tae, Jeon Wook-jin, Park Se-jin, and Yang Seo-woo, members of the Korean MMA Federation’s refereeing committee, became the first Koreans to officially obtain an international MMA refereeing license. They performed the best among the participating countries, placing first overall in the test, and Kim Sung-tae was delegated as an assistant referee.
They will serve as certified international referees at the upcoming Asian Championships and other upcoming international MMA events.
The main team (Chairman Jung Moon-hong) departed the country today in time for the competition schedule, which will begin on the 18th. The team is led by Kim Geum-chun and includes Park Han-bin (women’s -60kg), Lee Sang-gyun (men’s -71kg), Cheon Seung-moo (men’s -61kg), Kim Ha-joon (men’s -61kg), Son Jin-ho (men’s -71kg, playing coach), Jin Sung-hoon (men’s -77kg), Bae Dong-hyun (men’s -120kg) and Choi Eun-seok (sparring partner). The athletes’ official schedule will begin with medical checks and random doping tests in accordance with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations.토토사이트
Speaking at the joint training and departure ceremony held at the headquarters of Wonju Road FC in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on the 12th, Korea MMA Federation President Jung Moon-hong said, “Since MMA has become an institutionalized sport in the international sports world, it is rapidly establishing the framework of the sport. In order to keep up with this trend, our federation has been working closely with the top organizations, the General Association of MMA (GAMMA) and the Asian MMA Association (AMMA). We hope that the fighters, referees, and coaches will also trust the federation and do their best in their respective positions.”
MMA is an official sport of the OCA’s Asian Games of Indoor Martial Arts, as well as the National Olympic Committees’ Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games and the African Sports Confederation (AASC) African Games (Asia’s equivalent of the Asian Games).