It emerged on the 17th that the national fencing team, unable to collect their personal equipment due to the protest blocking the Jamsil ballot-counting center, will compete at the Asian Championships using borrowed gear.
Men's national team fencing coach Won Woo-young said before departing through Incheon International Airport on the 16th, "Personal and new equipment are at the venue, but access is blocked, so the athletes had to procure gear themselves."
The roster includes athletes such as Oh Sang-uk (Daejeon City Hall), Song Se-ra (Busan City Hall) and Jeon Ha-young (Seoul City Hall).
The national fencing team will compete at the Asian Championships in New Delhi, India, from the 18th to the 24th. Along with the Olympics, the World Championships and the Asian Games, this event is grouped as a "Grand Slam."
The athletes had stored their fencing swords, jackets and shoes in the Korea Fencing Federation office inside Olympic Park Live Arena (the former Handball Arena), but when Live Arena was sealed off, they were unable to collect their gear.
Live Arena was also used as the ballot-counting center for the 9th nationwide local elections on the 3rd. As a result, protesters gathered over a ballot paper shortage, and the lockdown has continued into the 12th day.
Because of this, employees of the Korea Fencing Federation struggled to enter the office and could not carry out remittance operations, reportedly facing difficulties starting with paying the Asian Championships participation fees.
Inside Live Arena, nine sport federations under the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), including the Korea Fencing Federation, are housed. They are handball, mountaineering, wushu, sepak takraw, finswimming, billiards, dance sport, and water skiing and wake sport.
Because of this, Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) President Ryu Seung-min said at a news conference, "Losses from the work stoppage have swelled to 6 billion won. We will take out only what is necessary for work," calling for swift police action to exercise public authority.