Seongnam City Sends 59 Athletes to Busan for National Sports Festival, Aiming for Gold

Nine Sports Including Hockey, Fencing, Badminton, and Table Tennis
Aiming for 20 Gold Medals

Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Shin Sangjin) held a send-off ceremony for 59 athletes participating in the National Sports Festival at 4 p.m. on the 22nd, on the second floor of the city hall in Moran Hall.

Seongnam Mayor Shin Sangjin is holding a "Send-off Ceremony for 59 Athletes Participating in the National Sports Festival" at 4 p.m. on the 22nd on the 2nd floor Moran Hall of the city hall. Provided by Seongnam City

This send-off ceremony was organized to strengthen the determination of the Seongnam City Hall workplace sports team, who will represent Gyeonggi Province at the 106th National Sports Festival (October 17-23) and the 45th National Para Games (October 31-November 5), both held throughout Busan, as they aim for gold medals.

The event was attended by Seongnam Mayor Shin Sangjin and the teams competing in nine sports, and included a pledge by the athletes' representative, the transfer of the team flag, and the chanting of victory slogans.

The National Sports Festival delegation consists of 53 people (9 coaches and 44 athletes) competing in eight sports: hockey, athletics, taekwondo, tennis, badminton, fencing, bowling, and boxing.

For the National Para Games, six people (two coaches and four athletes) will compete in one sport: table tennis.

Among the participants are the powerhouse hockey team, which has won seven consecutive titles at the National Men’s and Women’s Hockey Championships from 2019 to 2025; fencer Park Jungho, who led the fencing team to a team victory at the 2025 Rhine-Ruhr Summer World University Games; badminton player Cho Gonyup, who helped the team achieve runner-up in the team event at the 2025 World Mixed Team Championships; and para table tennis athletes Yoon Jiyu and Moon Sunghye, who won two silver and two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

The teams are determined to participate in each event with the goal of winning 20 gold medals.

Seongnam Mayor Shin Sangjin said, "I hope you will fully demonstrate your skills so that all the sweat and effort you have put in so far will shine, and return with pride. I wish you great success."

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