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| Female boxers Kim Ye-ji, right, and Choi Su-yeon / Courtesy of national women's boxing team |
This is the fifth in a series of interviews with Korean national athletes and coaches preparing for the Incheon Asian Games.
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Female boxers Kim Ye-ji and Choi Su-yeon say they come up against opponents inside and outside of the ring because they also have to fight against prejudice in society.
"If we win gold medals in the upcoming Incheon Asian Games, people will be more scared of us," Kim joked at the Taereung National Training Center last week, adding that being a female boxer in a conservative country such as Korea is a challenge
"Some people come to us and try to test how strong we are, and some even try to avoid coming close to us," said the 22-year-old, who will compete in the 51kg flyweight class.
But Choi, in the 75kg middleweight class, said the stereotypical images people have of female boxers provide strong motivation for her to work harder.
"People often ask me why I wanted to be a boxer, with an expression of concern and confusion on their face," the 27-year-old said. "Then, I get really upset."
But those incidents became a strong motivation for her to want to be stronger and to prove women can make good boxers.
Such negative attitudes are not only a discouraging factor for female boxers, but also an obstacle against the development of the sport here.
Women's boxing was included among the core sports programs in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and the 2012 Olympics, and South Korea's Seong Su-yeon won bronze in the 2010 Asiad.
But the nation only has a small number of female boxers. Only 139 female boxers are registered in the Boxing Association of Korea, while there are more than 1,400 men.
Kim said that the lack of female boxers on the national team also makes their job more difficult.
"The same people are usually picked for the national team, so we don't have enough sparring partners," Kim said, "I always wish I could have more training partners."
Choi also said that because of a lack of support and attention, boxers often have to pay contest participation fees out of their own pockets.
Despite such challenges, Choi earned a gold medal at the Lion's Cup International Boxing Tournament in Sri Lanka in April, and is a strong candidate in her class to win another.
The two boxers believe that winning gold medals in the Asiad is important because it will encourage more people to pay attention to the sport, and more talented young women to participate.
"Winning a gold medal will be a good chance to promote the sport," said Kim, who hopes to redeem herself after she failed to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
Korea Times interns Lee Min-hyung and Nam Yoon-seo contributed to this report.
