The 2025 Namwon Korea Open, an annual global roller sports competition that runs for a full week, concluded on Wednesday at Namwon Sports Town in North Jeolla Province. Celebrating its 18th anniversary, this year’s event set a record with 1,699 participants, including 1,305 athletes from 13 countries, competing in speed track, speed road, inline freestyle and inline hockey events.
The opening ceremony, held April 19, was attended by distinguished guests including Kim Kyung-seok, president of the Korea Roller Sports Federation; Choi Kyung-sik, mayor of Namwon; Ryu Heung-seong, chair of the Namwon City Sports Association; and Choi Jin-young, CEO of Herald Media Group.
Ryu Seung-min, chair of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, and Kim Kwan-young, governor of North Jeolla Province, also shared congratulatory messages via video.
The event kicked off with performances by current and former Korean national freestyle inline skaters, as well as the K-pop dance group Lucid, drawing enthusiastic cheers from athletes and spectators.
Herald Media Group CEO and former Namwon Mayor Choi Jin-young said, “It’s meaningful to host this historic event in Namwon, a city known for its sports culture. I initiated the construction of this sports park and roller center decades ago and it’s great to see it thrive. I support the growth of Korean roller sports and hope Namwon becomes a global sports hub.” Choi served as mayor of Namwon from 1998 to 2006.
Notable performances included Taiwan’s Shih Pei-yu, who swept three gold medals in the senior women’s division, and Korea’s Kim Ji-chan, who set multiple records in the high school division. In inline freestyle, Thai duo Kamin Inswang and Natnanda Pasutanawin claimed victory in the pair slalom event. The inline hockey tournament featured 29 teams, with Goyang Twins U-18 and Anyang BHS winning their respective divisions.
The event highlighted Namwon’s growing status as a hub for international sports and introduced rising prominence of Korean roller athletes on the world stage, organizers said.
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)
