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Expats compete in the soccer event at last year’s International Students’ Sports Festival. (Paul Kerry/The Korea Herald) |
The Korea International Students Support Association will hold its annual sports festival in November.
The International Students Sports and Cultural Festival 2012 on Nov. 3 in Songdo, Incheon, features events including soccer, volleyball, basketball and running. Applications to take part close Oct. 21. Last year’s event in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, attracted more than 400 athletes and hundreds more spectators, with Hallasan, a team made up mostly of players from Ajou University in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, winning many of the events.
“We’re really pleased to bring this exclusive event for international students in Korea again, and we hope that they can come and have fun and a unique experience,” said organizer and KISSA assistant director Sara Rai.
She added that the organization believed its reputation would rise by hosting the event in different places, but that there wasn’t a special reason for Incheon being the host this year.
She said KISSA had added some new events to encourage participation, especially by women, including team wrestling, basketball and women’s dodge ball.
An eight-team cricket tournament is also planned although the format it would take has not yet been decided.
The full list of sports is men’s 11-a-side and women’s 7-a-side soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s dodgeball, mixed volleyball, tug-of-war, relay races and individual and team ssireum, which is a traditional form of Korean wrestling.
The competition is open to all international students and faculty in Korea and also foreign graduates of Korean universities.
A limited number of Korean players can also be accepted for team sports such as soccer.
Athletes must each pay 5,000 won to compete, which will be donated to help needy children.
This year also features a cultural dimension with the “Expressions of Korea” competition. Competing teams are asked to stage a short performance reflecting the country as they see it.
Seven prizes will be given out in the cultural competition, ranging from 150,000 won to 1.2 million won.
The performance can take any format as long as it shows the team’s impression of Korea, and competitors are encouraged to be creative.
“Young students are very creative and many of them that come to Korea are very enamored with Korean dramas,” said Rai.
“So we are hoping to see some unique performances. It could be very varied.”
The festival will begin at 9 a.m. at the Songdo Campus’ Sports Ground.
For more information about the festival and to enter to compete, visit
www.ikissa.net.
By Paul Kerry (
paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)
