-22 international competitions to be held by local governments, including ’2021 ISSF World Cup Changwon, as well as 5 contact-less(online) competitions, including ‘2021 Daegu International Marathon’-

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Park yang-woo, hereinafter referred to as MCST) has finally selected a total of 22 competitions to be conducted in 13 cities and provinces, including ‘2021 International Shooting Sport Federation(ISSF) World Cup Changwon’, ‘2022 Pyeongchang International Childern’s Winter Games(ICWG)’, ‘2021 Daegu International Marathon’. Contact-less(online) competitions also joined the list in response to COVID-19.

‘Project to support international competitions hosted by local governments’ serves to select local government-led competitions with strong linkage to regions and sports, or to choose events with global competitiveness. Once selected, state funds(less than 1 billion KRW) will be provided to local governments in order to promote local sports and local economies.

Examine via detailed standards such as region-sports linkage and cooperation, or COVID-19 quarantine measure

This time in the contest, which took place from Dec 28, 2020 to Jan 17, 2021, a total of 31 competitions from 13 cities and provinces registered and only 22 competitions from 13 cities and provinces were selected after the first document screening and second presentation screening. Each assessment item includes region-sports linkage and cooperation as well as plans for further utilization, along with the quarantine measures against COVID-19. For contact-less(online) international competitions gained five additional points in the first document screening process, making five contact-less international competitions to be selected as final.

As a result, a number of international competitions with excellent level of region-sports linkage were selected, including ‘2021 ISSF World Cup Changwon’, ‘2021 Daegu International Marathon’, ‘2022 Ice Climbing World Cup Cheongsong’. Each city specializes in the following areas, Changwon for shooting, Daegu for marathon track, Cheongsong for ice climbing, to promote commercialization (branding) of such international competitions. Once the international competitions with excellent level of region-sport linkage become a product(brand), the consequences will not only attract outstanding domestic and foreign athletes but also lure many domestic and foreign tourists, contributing much to boost local economies and to promote the basis of sports for all.

Promote utilization of legacy of the conventional international competitions, and seek vitality via supporting contact-less competitions

The contest focused on the future use of international competition facilities to actively utilize the legacy of conventional international competitions. ▲ 2022 Pyeongchang International Childern’s Winter Games(ICWG) will take place in Alpensia and Gangneung Olympic Park stadiums, ▲ 2021 DSI International Drone Sports Championships will be held at Gangneung Skating Stadium. ‘2021 Asian Cup 2nd Archery Competition’ will be held at Gwangju International Archery Site, a facility of ‘2015 Gwangju Universiade’.

Moreover, contact-less(online) international competitions were selected in the contest, in order to pave a new way for international competitions, which were severely dampened in the midst of COVID-19 crisis. ‘2021 Gunsan Saemangeum International Marathon’ will be held in two different courses, full and half course respectively. In the marathon, domestic and foreign athletes will wear individual GPS to track their location at anytime they want, checking their records. ’2021 Daejeon MBC Cup Seocheon International Open Taekwondo Championships‘ will be conducted by submitting Taekwondo Poomsae videos and then ranking them via online contest.

A policy officer from MCST cited, “Holding a contact-less international competition as a response to COVID-19 actively responds to the demand for international competitions and gives fresh vitality to regions and the people at the same time”, and he also added, “But as the current domestic status of COVID-19 is not so much encouraging, the Ministry will make sure to closely discuss with relevant organizations including the health authorities and local governments to host competitions safely by establishing a strict quarantine standard.”