IBK Industrial Bank Supports IBK Grand Slam Junior Development Team

Annual Sponsorship Exceeding 300 Million KRW

At the sponsorship agreement ceremony for the 'IBK Grand Slam Junior Development Team' held on the 29th at the IBK Corporate Bank headquarters in Euljiro, Seoul, (from left) Shim Sang-deok, President of the Korea Middle and High School Tennis Federation, Lee Ki-heung, President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, and Yoon Jong-won, President of IBK Corporate Bank, are posing for a commemorative photo after the ceremony.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] IBK Industrial Bank of Korea announced on the 29th that it held a signing ceremony to establish the ‘IBK Grand Slam Junior Development Team’ to support promising tennis players for the advancement of Korean tennis. The ceremony was attended by Lee Ki-heung, President of the Korean Sports Council, and Shim Sang-duk, President of the Korea Middle and High School Tennis Federation, among others.

Through this agreement, IBK plans to support more than 300 million KRW annually (1 billion KRW over three years) to cover expenses for participation in domestic and international ITF junior tournaments and training fees at overseas tennis academies, aiming to nurture players who enter the top 10 in the world junior rankings within three years. The Korea Middle and High School Tennis Federation will oversee the operation of the development team.

In October, one coach and four promising players will be selected through an open recruitment process. A fair and systematic selection criterion will be applied by combining ranking points from domestic and international tournaments and results from the selection competition among applicants under the age of 16.

President Yoon Jong-won stated, “The growth of Korea’s tennis stars such as Chung Hyeon and Kwon Soon-woo was largely due to investments made through the past ‘Top 100 Player Development Project’ during their junior years. However, the domestic junior development program has since significantly declined. We decided to sponsor this as a future investment to strengthen the foundation for tennis development, including nurturing promising players.”

In fact, the junior development team supported in 2012 discovered and nurtured players such as Chung Hyeon, Kwon Soon-woo, Hong Sung-chan, Jung Yoon-sung, and Lee Duck-hee based on a global advanced program.

President Yoon added, “We hope this sponsorship will serve as an opportunity for tennis prospects with growth potential to develop into world-class players who shine for the Republic of Korea.”

President Shim Sang-duk responded, “We are grateful to IBK for deciding to support junior players despite the difficult economic situation. The federation will do its best to ensure this becomes a stepping stone for the leap forward of Korean tennis.”

Lee Ki-heung, President of the Korean Sports Council, also expressed, “I hope IBK’s sponsorship will serve as a catalyst to enhance the competitiveness of Korean tennis and further activate other companies’ participation in sponsoring less popular sports.”

As part of its social contribution projects, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea has consistently worked to expand the base of less popular sports by operating a women’s volleyball team, a shooting team, and establishing the Women’s Baduk Masters tournament. It also plans to support promising athletes in basic sports such as athletics in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.