South Korean-born Choi Young-seok, coach of the Thai national taekwondo team, arrived Suvarnbhumi late Sunday night to a warm welcome.
Choi Yong-seok arrives at Suvarnabhumi airport on Sunday night and vows to continue coaching the Thai national taekwondo team. (Photo by Nattapol Lovakij)
The coach was accused of punching Thai fighter Rungravee Khurasa several times after she lost a match at last week’s Korean Open.
Choi told reporters at the airport that he thought what happened was not the fault of Rungravee as she still lacked experience on the national team and in international competition, so he hoped to fine tune the understanding and end the scandal in order to move on and continue coaching the Thai team.
Preecha Tortrakul, vice president of the Taekwondo Association of Thailand, said the opportunity is still there for Rungravee to be part of the national team, despite her announcement she was resigning.
He said Choi decided to return to Thailand as he had earlier promised to coach the Thai national team through to the Olympics in Brazil in 2016.
Video by Thiti Wannamontha