Almost 4,000 amateur athletes from across the country participated in the Korean American National Sports Festival held last Saturday at the campus of Cal State Fullerton in Orange County.
The annual event, in its 16th year, showcased traditional Olympic sports such as track, soccer and tennis as well as various martial arts including taekwondo, kumdo (fencing) and ssireum, or Korean wrestling.
“This was such a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect.” Michael Choi, 37, a Buena Park, Calif.-resident and tennis participant told the Orange County Register. “I may have not won a medal, but that didn’t really matter.”
Sung-Ji Lee, 24, traveled from Oakland to compete in taekwondo. He made it to the quarterfinals before losing Saturday.
“For most of us, winning or losing is not the most important thing,” he said. “These games are another way to celebrate who we are. Just competing makes all the athletes winners.”
However, the feeling of goodwill was marred by a brief fracas which broke out during one of the basketball games.
The annual event has previously been held in San Francisco, Dallas, New York and Chicago, among other cities.
Photos via OC Register
