Instead of referee Peter Werth (England), who caused a controversy over bias judgment in the men's 1,000m short track at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, referee Beata Padar (Hungary) will host the women's 1,500m race today (16th).



An official from the International Skating Union (ISU) said, "As a result of the team leader meeting held the previous day, referee Padar decided to supervise the women's 1,500m on the final day of the short track."

For the men's 5,000m relay, Worth will be the referee as usual.



ISU has assigned a total of 12 judges for the men's and women's divisions, including 1 referee, 2 assistant referees, 1 video review referee, 1 starter, and 1 group competitor, respectively, ahead of the Olympic Games.



However, as Padar, who was appointed as the women's referee before the competition, got on the plane to Beijing late due to the Corona 19 problem, referee Worth has been in charge of most of the matches.



Referee Padar arrived in Beijing on the 10th, but only participated as an assistant referee in some events in accordance with the ISU policy that 'the referee for each event should not be replaced midway'.



However, since the women's 1,500m event will be held from the quarterfinals to the finals on the 16th, Padar will be able to serve as the referee.




This is welcome news for the Korean national team, who suffered damage from referee Worth's ambiguous decision at the beginning of the tournament.



Referee Worth disqualified Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Office) and Lee Jun-seo (Korea National Sports University) for a lane change violation in the men's 1,000m semifinal on the 7th, and two Chinese athletes were placed on the final stage.



In the final, Saorin Shandor Liu (Hungary), who passed first place, was disqualified, and the Chinese players took the gold and silver medals.

Since then, referee Worth has been embroiled in controversy over his decision in favor of the host country, China.



Meanwhile, in the women's 1,500m quarterfinals starting today (16th) at 8:30 pm Korean time, the short track team team Minjeong Choi (Seongnam City Hall), Arang Kim (Goyang City Hall), and Lee Yubin (Yonsei University) will compete for a medal.



Choi Min-jung won the gold medal in this event at the Pyeongchang Olympics four years ago, and Lee Yu-bin is the world's No.



This is a 'news pick'.



(Photo = Yonhap News)