Yonhap to host badminton event for multicultural families

SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's key news service, and Yonhap News TV, the operator of an all-news cable channel "news Y," will co-host a badminton tournament this weekend for multicultural families from across the nation, company officials said Wednesday. The third annual event will be held Saturday at the SK Olympic Handball Stadium in Bangi-dong, eastern Seoul. About 500 members of multicultural families from 221 homes around the country will be invited, with about 100 volunteers to assist, according to the company's Overseas Korean Center. The badminton matches will be held in men's and women's singles plus mixed doubles for married couples. The top finishers will win prizes and all participants will receive badminton rackets and T-shirts as souvenirs. The event is sponsored by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and run by the Korean Institute for Healthy Family. The center said the event will help families from different backgrounds "to connect with each other and to contribute to a harmonious society, and also to instill in them a sense of pride at being members of South Korean society." On the sidelines of the badminton matches, organizers will offer a free Oriental medicine clinic and a game room, plus a book cafe and face-painting booth for children. Former national team shuttlers Hwang Ji-man, Park Sun-young and Lee Yeon-hwa will play in demonstration matches. Activist Jasmine Lee, a native of the Philippines married to a Korean man, will be among celebrities from multicultural families at the event. Lee recently came under the spotlight for her role in a local hit film, "Wandeuki." Yonex, a badminton equipment company, will supply rackets for the players and publisher Daekyo will provide children's books for the book cafe. (END)