With the absence of Choi Jeong-dan, the star player of the women's Baduk League, Boryeong is considered the "weakest" team among coaches and reporters this season. Korea Baduk Association
Since the news of Choi Jeong's absence from the Women's Baduk League was reported by Cookie News alone on May 29, the related situation has spread beyond the truth battle to a responsibility debate.
According to the Cookies News report on the 2nd, Boryeong City is also responsible for the absence of Choi Jeong, who played as the team's captain, from the Korea Baduk League, the 9th-tier agency and the organizer of the Women's Baduk League.
"We are feeling the same way (about the fact that other local governments stopped sponsoring the Women's Baduk League due to excessive participation fees and lack of public relations activities)," said Kim Jung-hoon, vice chairman of the Boryeong City Council, in a telephone interview with Cookie News. "I think that may have been the reason why Choi Jeong, the 9th dan, left the club."
Vice Chairman Kim then said, "If the top nine dan participates in individual competitions, they will receive prize money based on their performance," adding, "When I talked to the sports promotion department of Boryeong City, they said that it was not easy to recruit other players."
In response, an official from the sports promotion department of Boryeong City said, "We didn't hear exactly (about the reason for not attending the 9th round)," adding, "We heard from the Korea Foundation that there were personal and health problems."
Park Byung-kyu, senior vice president of NH Nonghyup Bank, is making a congratulatory speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Women's Baduk League held on the 1st. Korea Baduk Association
According to a press release released by the Korea Baduk League, the total amount of women's baduk league is 840 million won. The prize money, which is slightly increased compared to the previous year, is 55 million won and the runner-up prize is 35 million won, which is divided by four players from each team. The prize money is self-distributed by the team, and arithmetically, if they win, they can win about 13.5 million won per person.
Since the women's Baduk League players are basically members of the Korea Baduk Association, they also receive a match fee regardless of the team's victory or defeat. The winner of each round will be paid 1.3 million won and the loser will be paid 400,000 won.
The prize money of 1.3 million won per game and 13.5 million won when winning is not a tempting amount for Choi Jung, who declared her absence this season. Choi Jung, the 9th grader, is known to have received about 9.5 million won per game as a winning allowance for a Chinese woman who recently participated in the Women's Baduk League. In addition, Choi Jung, who is currently ranked fifth in the men's and women's integrated Go prize rankings, earned more than 145 million won by June, the first half of the year.
In the midst of this, there are concerns that Boryeong City may withdraw its sponsorship for the women's Baduk League next season. This is because the existence of Choi Jeong, 9 dan, who had been a "regional" player in Boryeong City, was one of the reasons for sponsoring the women's Baduk League. This season, Seogwipo City was absent due to budget reasons, and Suncheon City, which has long sponsored the women's Baduk League, also decided not to participate because "the local government's promotion effect was less than the high cost, and most of the expenses were executed at the participation fee paid to the Korea Baduk Association." 슬롯사이트
An official from the Boryeong Sports Promotion Division explained in a telephone interview with Cookie News, "We initially supported the women's Baduk League because of Choi Jung," and added, "Because we can have Choi Jung 9 dan as a local player, and we have supported it because we believe it has a promotional effect as a symbolic factor of being the No. 1 player in the world's women's Go ranking."
"I suddenly heard the news of Choi Jung's absence in the middle," he said. "Even if Choi Jung 9 dan returns next season, the regional connection period will end, so we will review the women's Baduk League support again."
Meanwhile, Cookie News contacted the Korea Baduk Association to confirm the facts regarding Choi Jeong's absence from the women's Baduk League, but could not reach it.