By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – South Korean Park Jong-Woo, controversially banned from receiving his bronze medal at London 2012 for displaying a political message, has been called up by his country’s senior squad for the first time for a FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifier.
The midfielder (pictured top) was barred from the podium ceremony at Wembley Stadium following South Korea’s 2-0 Olympic bronze medal win over Japan (pictured below) a few days earlier after he had held up a sign referring to a territorial dispute between the Asian neighbours.
The disputed Dokdo islands, controlled by South Korea but also claimed by Japan, lie equidistant from the two countries and are believed to contain frozen natural gas deposits potentially worth billions of dollars.
FIFA, world football’s governing body, immediately opened disciplinary proceedings against Park while the Korean Olympic Committee asked him not to attend official functions on its behalf.
But South Korea’s Olympic coach Hong Myung-Bo refused to join the clamour of condemnation and said Park deserved to collect his medal.
National coach Choi Kang-Hee has now named Park in his squad for the Asian pool qualifier against Uzbekistan in Tashkent on September 11.
South Korea will gain automatic qualification for the 2014 finals in Rio by finishing first or second in its group
“I watched the games during the Olympics,” Choi said.
“The assessment is that Park is good enough to play in the national team.
“Park is tough as a midfielder and has a lot of movement, defensively he’s aggressive and we don’t have a player like that in the national team.”
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