Pictured: KeSPA president Young-Man Kim, left, and Seung-min Ryu, right. Credit: KeSPA.
Mentioned in this article
- Table tennis player and Olympic gold medalist Ryu Seung-min has been appointed as an honorary advisor and ambassador for the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA).
- Ryu is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and a board member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
- In his role, Ryu will communicate with sports governing bodies for esports to be inducted into official programs worldwide.
On June 10th, KeSPA appointed Olympian and IOC member Seung-min Ryu as an honorary advisor and ambassador for the association. The role expands Ryu’s public support of esports, having been a presenter at the 2018 League of Legends 
World Championship finals in Seoul, and being present at the inauguration of the Korean national esports team for last year’s Asian Games.
“The energy we saw at the esports scene from the Asian Games last year was purely amazing,” said Ryu, in a statement. “Esports has enormous potential to enhance the nation’s sports prestige in the world along with table tennis. My focus will be on providing as many opportunities as possible for the Korean esports players to perform at the highest level around the world.”
Ryu has competed at four consecutive summer Olympic events, winning the men’s singles gold medal at the 2004 competition in Athens. He is the only South Korean member of the IOC, and is a member of the OCA executive board, as chairman of the OCA Entourage Committee. In addition, he will serve as the president of the Korea Table Tennis Association until next year.
The Korean e-Sports Association, a non-governmental organization, was accredited by the South Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (MCST) in 2000. A member of the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC), the association focuses on supporting amateur players and establishing infrastructure within the country. KeSPA also works with Riot Games Korea to run the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), on league schedule coordination, player management, player contracts, and team support.
