Supporting national team since 2009
Chairs organizing committee for world championships
Helps athletes find jobs, backs formation of civic teams
'We cannot abandon our goals just because things are hard'
"Boccia athletes win gold medals at world competitions through sheer determination, despite the most difficult physical conditions. Watching them, I feel that we cannot abandon the things we want to do just because things are hard."
Kang Sung-hee, chairman of Otech Group, has stood alongside boccia — the Paralympic throwing sport for athletes with severe disabilities — for 17 consecutive years. His commitment goes well beyond sponsoring tournaments: he has helped players find stable employment off the court and supported local governments in establishing civic boccia teams, keeping a close eye on the athletes' lives as a whole.
In an interview Tuesday, Kang said that years of watching boccia athletes had taught him a great deal. Seeing competitors strive for the world's top podium despite severe physical disabilities, he said, reinforced his belief that hardship alone is never a reason to abandon one's goals.
Boccia is a throwing sport created for athletes with cerebral palsy and other severe disabilities. Players score points by landing red or blue balls as close as possible to a white target ball. The ball may be thrown or rolled directly, or delivered with an assistive device depending on the degree of disability. Concentration and strategy are paramount, as players must account for their opponent's ball positions and plan several moves ahead.
Otech Group's relationship with boccia began in 2009. Over the 17 years since, the company has sponsored the national boccia team, supporting athlete development, improvements to training facilities and expansion of the sport's grassroots base. Kang has served as president of the Korea Boccia Federation for the Disabled since 2015, and this year he also chairs the organizing committee for the 2026 Seoul Boccia World Championships.
The world championships, which opened Aug. 26, drew a delegation of 504 athletes and officials from 48 countries. With this edition, South Korea became the first country in Asia to have hosted all of the sport's major international events — the Paralympics, the World Championships, the Asia-Oceania Regional Championships, the World Boccia Cup and the World Open. The national team is also a boccia powerhouse, having claimed gold at 10 consecutive Paralympic Games from the 1988 Seoul Paralympics through the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Kang said he draws particular inspiration, as a business leader, from the athletes' determination. "Boccia athletes win gold medals at world competitions through sheer determination, despite the most difficult physical conditions," he said. "Watching them, I feel that we cannot abandon the things we want to do just because things are hard."
boo@heraldcorp.com
