Beaten star Rungrawee evades media, goes for medical check
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Troubled taekwondo exponent Rungrawee Kurasa evaded local media when she returned home on Tuesday night after participating in the Korean Open.
Later, she said in a message to a local reporter that she was not ready to answer questions about the allegations that she had made against national coach Choi Young-seuk that he had physically abused her.
The 23-year-old, who won a bronze medal in the 62kg class in the Asian Championship last year, grabbed negative headlines when she announced that she would quit the national team after allegedly being punished severely by South Korean coach Choi.
Rungrawee claimed that a “frustrated” Choi, a man credited with the country’s ascendance as one of the continent’s leading nations in the Korean martial arts, punched her on the face and stomach following her first-round loss in the Korean Open, where results were taken into account for determining places in the Olympics.
Travelling alone, with the rest of the Thai team scheduled to fly home at the end of the tournament tomorrow, Rungrawee surged past a big group of local media, which was waiting for three hours. Later she sent a message to one of the reporters apologising for her action.
Yesterday, Rungrawee underwent a check-up at a hospital but her mother declined to give more details, saying that they were waiting for the X-ray result. She further said she would let her daughter take rest before deciding whether to file a police complaint against the coach. The Thailand Taekwondo Association said it would investigate the incident by calling both the parties to the association’s office on Saturday before deciding whether to take any further action.
