Korean alpine skier files court injunction to suspend sports body's national team selection

PYEONGCHANG -- Korea's alpine skier Kyung Sung-hyun filed a court injunction on Monday against the Korea Ski Association to suspend its national team selection, sources said.

Last week, the KSA announced a list of four alpine skiers -- two men and two women -- for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

On the men's side, the KSA selected Jung Dong-hyun, who specializes in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and Kim Dong-woo, who competes in the speed events of downhill and super-G. 

But it has come under fire for its controversial selection process and for informing its skiers of their exclusion so close to the Feb. 9-25 Olympics.

Kyung, who failed to make the final list, applied for an injunction with the Seoul Eastern District Court to halt the implementation of the decision made by the KSA technical committee, according to the sources close to the alpine skier.

He claimed that the KSA technical committee, in charge of sorting out national team members, held a meeting without the chairman and did not comply with proper voting rules.

Also, he said he is the top-ranked Korean in giant slalom and is a much more accomplished skier in technical events than Kim has been in speed events.

Kyung's exclusion caused a stir in particular because he was the only alpine skier present at the Team Korea launch ceremony in Seoul on Wednesday. Kyung attended the event fully decked out in the official national team gear and even posted a selfie from the ceremony on his social media pages.

Kyung found out hours later that he wasn't going to PyeongChang.(Yonhap)