KB News Desk
Paichai High School’s baseball team has been suspended from all national tournaments for six months following a controversial chant during a recent match.
The Korea Baseball Softball Association on Wednesday said its sports fairness committee imposed the sanction during an emergency meeting, concluding that the team’s conduct “violated the spirit of sportsmanship” and “disrupted order during the game.”
The ban takes effect Thursday, automatically eliminating Paichai High School from the 81st Blue Dragon Championship. The team will forfeit its scheduled second-round game against Hyocheon High School after advancing past Gwangju Jeil High School in the opening round.
This comes after the baseball association said it convened the committee in response to public criticism after the school’s game against Gwangju Jeil High School on Monday, during which players made chants that made fun of a massacre that happened in Gwangju in 1980.
A KBSA official said the punishment was based on the committee’s finding that the team’s conduct had disrupted the game. The committee also said it reviewed relevant regulations of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee before settling on the decision.
The suspension sidelines Paichai High School for the remainder of this year’s national high school baseball season, including the President’s Cup in July and the Bonghwang Flag National High School Baseball Tournament in August.
The committee, however, deferred a decision on whether to discipline individual players and coaches.
