Korean Air chief executive Cho Yang-ho (right) receives a service award from Qatar Olympic Committee secretary-general Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at an international table tennis competition on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar. (Yonhap News)
Korean Air chief executive Cho Yang-ho received an award on Tuesday from international body Peace and Sport for his work to foster peace through sports initiatives, company officials said.
Founded in 2007 by French pentathlon Olympic medalist Joel Bouzou, the Monaco-based organization promotes sports, focusing on regions that suffer from conflict, poverty or a lack of social cohesion. It appointed Cho as an ambassador in February last year.
The award was given on the sidelines of the first Peace and Sport Table Tennis Cup, which ended on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar. The association co-hosted the two-day international ping-pong tournament alongside the International Table Tennis Federation, and Korean Air was the chief sponsor.
It also “underscores Cho’s commitment to sport as a driver to bring the world together,” the company said in a statement.
Cho has chaired the Korea Table Tennis Association since 2008. He also led Korea’s successful bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province. “The Peace and Sport Table Tennis Cup is set to be a historic occasion for the sport and also for sending out peace messages through sports,” Cho was quoted as saying in Doha.
“I believe we can promote friendly relations and dialogue between players, spectators and their nations. Sport is a neutral territory that crosses all barriers and hostilities.”
By Shin Hyon-hee (
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
