Thailand National Taekwondo team’s renowned coach Choi Young-seok said he was excited to be chosen as a referee for the weekend’s “Sport Metaverse Challenge # 1” eSports competition.
The event is part of the Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022, organized by Nation Group Plc in collaboration with BlockMountain, MetaverseXR and B-Lay Plus. The exhibition starts this Friday and continues until Sunday at centralawOrld LIVE, on the 8th floor of CentralwOrld in Bangkok.
Coach Choi said: “I have been working as a Taekwondo coach for the Thai team for many years, but this is my initial time as a referee.”
“I hope to meet young e-sport players to bring their skills and knowledge of modern tech to improve the sports scene in Thailand, in addition to inspiring the new generation’s interest in physical and virtual sports. Besides, I wish good luck to the 10 finalists in the final round this Sunday”.
Coach Choi, 47, was granted Thai citizenship in February in the current year, seven months after conducting Thailand to its historic initial taekwondo gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Other highly qualified guests invited to judge Sport Metaverse Challenge #1 is Dr. Trakarn Punthumlerdrujee from Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Sports Management. Nares Laopannaraji, secretary-general of Thailand Digital Asset Association; Sirirat Yonyothinkul, former basketball player of the national team; and Pongwud Praipaisankij, director of the Metaverse Thailand Community.
Sport Metaverse Challenge #1 plans to discover ideas for enhancing the potential of athletes using virtual reality tech. 30 teams of 85 students under the age of 25 from 17 schools across Thailand were invited to compete in ten virtual sports: badminton, athletics, golf, table tennis, fencing, Thai boxing, weightlifting, archery, Skiing, and long-boat sailing.
The top ten teams will play with each other in the final round, that will be held from Friday to Sunday (August 19 to 21).
